This Indie Game Has Been Banned On Steam Before It's Even Released

"Regardless, Steam informed the developer, Santa Ragione, that Horses was banned from the platform in 2023. The developer claims Valve has never explained its reasons for the ban in the two years since the ruling. Horses is a first-person title that casts players as a ranch hand who spends two weeks at an increasingly bizarre and unsettling farm. The horses in this game aren't horses at all. They're naked humans wearing horse masks who are forced to act like beasts of burden."

"Santa Ragione insists that Horses is not pornographic, and the publisher jokingly added that it apologizes if it "got your hopes up for horse porn." Instead, Santa Ragione says it's using "challenging, unconventional material to encourage discussion. It invites players to examine why something feels the way it does, what it says about the characters and systems at work, and where their limits lie. It is about tension, not erotic content.""

"Santa Ragione did share its belief that the ban may have been triggered by a scene in the game that originally featured a young girl riding on the shoulders of a naked adult woman in a horse mask. However, the publisher added that the scene in question has since replaced the girl with "a twenty-something woman" because the dialogue and the dynamic of that sequence was better served by using an older character."

Valve changed rules to block adult games from early-access releases after pressure from banks and payment processors. The indie horror game Horses is rated M for Mature but is not an adult or pornographic title. Steam told developer Santa Ragione that Horses was banned from the platform in 2023 and reportedly offered no explanation in the two years since. Horses places players as a ranch hand spending two weeks on an increasingly bizarre farm where naked humans wear horse masks and are forced to act like beasts of burden. Santa Ragione says the game uses challenging, unconventional material to provoke reflection and tension rather than erotic content. The developer suspects a scene originally including a young girl on a naked adult woman's shoulders may have triggered the ban and has since replaced that character with a twenty-something woman. Without a Steam release the studio risks shutting down after spending roughly $100,000 on development.

Read at GameSpot