Independent Game Studio on Brink of Closure After Steam Ban
An indie game studio is facing the very real possibility of shutting down due to Valve's decision to ban its latest title, Horses, from the popular digital storefront.
The first-person horror game is set in a rural setting where players are led to believe that horses are actually naked adults wearing horse masks - a clear indication that this isn't for children.
However, when developer Santa Ragione released Horses on the Epic Games Store, GOG, Itch and the Humble Store on December 2, as planned, Valve's content review team rejected the game from Steam.
Valve stated that it blocked Horses due to "content that appears, in our judgment, to depict sexual conduct involving a minor," but did not provide further reasons for the rejection.
Santa Ragione argued that the ban is unfair, claiming that all characters in the game are clearly over 20 years old and that there's no suggestion of any wrongdoing. They also claimed that they were trying to avoid "subjective obscenity standards" by presenting the game as intended and letting adults choose what to play.
This particular ban comes as a major blow to Santa Ragione, which spent $100,000 on Horses' development. The studio had hoped to recover costs from sales of its previous title, Saturnalia, but that didn't perform well enough.
As a result, the studio claimed it's now in an "unsustainable financial situation," with no external publisher or partner willing to help. They're left relying on funds from friends to finish the game, which has added significant stress and pressure on their resources.
With Santa Ragione planning to support Horses for at least six months after its release, they seem to be operating on borrowed time. If the game fails to gain traction, it's likely that the studio will be forced to close its doors.
"I don't want to make a final decision before seeing how the game does on launch," said Pietro Righi Riva, co-founder of Santa Ragione. "But if things go the way that I expect them to go, then I think [studio's closure] is inevitable."
An indie game studio is facing the very real possibility of shutting down due to Valve's decision to ban its latest title, Horses, from the popular digital storefront.
The first-person horror game is set in a rural setting where players are led to believe that horses are actually naked adults wearing horse masks - a clear indication that this isn't for children.
However, when developer Santa Ragione released Horses on the Epic Games Store, GOG, Itch and the Humble Store on December 2, as planned, Valve's content review team rejected the game from Steam.
Valve stated that it blocked Horses due to "content that appears, in our judgment, to depict sexual conduct involving a minor," but did not provide further reasons for the rejection.
Santa Ragione argued that the ban is unfair, claiming that all characters in the game are clearly over 20 years old and that there's no suggestion of any wrongdoing. They also claimed that they were trying to avoid "subjective obscenity standards" by presenting the game as intended and letting adults choose what to play.
This particular ban comes as a major blow to Santa Ragione, which spent $100,000 on Horses' development. The studio had hoped to recover costs from sales of its previous title, Saturnalia, but that didn't perform well enough.
As a result, the studio claimed it's now in an "unsustainable financial situation," with no external publisher or partner willing to help. They're left relying on funds from friends to finish the game, which has added significant stress and pressure on their resources.
With Santa Ragione planning to support Horses for at least six months after its release, they seem to be operating on borrowed time. If the game fails to gain traction, it's likely that the studio will be forced to close its doors.
"I don't want to make a final decision before seeing how the game does on launch," said Pietro Righi Riva, co-founder of Santa Ragione. "But if things go the way that I expect them to go, then I think [studio's closure] is inevitable."
They're already struggling and now this Valve ban is gonna put 'em outta business for sure. It's like, I get it, some people might misinterpret the game's content but come on, a clear adult horse mask? That's not even that deep. The thing is, they've spent all their cash on this one game and if it flops, who's gonna help 'em out? They're literally just scraping by right now, living off their friends' money 
It's a shame really, I'd love to see more games like Horses that aren't afraid to take risks 
I'm so confused about this whole thing. Valve says they banned Horses from Steam because it depicts sexual conduct involving a minor, but the devs are saying all characters are over 20 and there's no suggestion of anything naughty going on. 
It sounds like some major double standards to me.
No explanation from Valve is just not cool. And now Santa Ragione is struggling financially because of this? 
That's some major stress and pressure.
I don't think Santa Ragione can survive that kind of financial hit. Fingers crossed for them! 
! Can't Valve just let a game be? It's not like they're distributing hardcore child porn or something. This ban is super unfair and it's gonna hurt that indie studio big time 
. But at the same time, I get why they're trying to protect minors from potentially disturbing content.
. But it's hard not to wonder what other indie studios might be facing similar challenges in the future... 
. anyway back to santa ragione... what's with the whole steam ban thing tho? can't they just, like, move to another platform or something? 
Valve is being super unreasonable here... like, they got it wrong from the start! 
I can see how people might have misinterpreted it at first, but come on Valve! You've gotta be more open-minded. 
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Horses will do well enough to save them, but if not... 
I guess we'll just have to say goodbye to a really cool indie game studio. 
santa ragione spent $100k on horses and now they're in this crazy financial situation 
I mean, come on... a game about naked horse adults wearing masks? That's like the most obvious thing ever! 
Valve can't seriously think they're banning it because of "minor" content. Who do they think they are kidding? 
can't believe valve is being so strict with their content guidelines sometimes u gotta wonder if it's worth the stress for indie devs to try and make it in this industry