Late last year, indie horror game Horses was banned by Epic Games Store just ahead of its debut. Because Horses had already been banned by Steam in 2023, this gave studio developer Santa Ragione a greatly reduced chance to break even. Santa Ragione has since called out Epic over the cancellation, and now Epic has responded to the former’s claims.
While speaking with Game File, Epic vice president Steve Allison said, “We love [Horses’] studio,” but reiterated that the game’s adult content warranted its removal. Santa Ragione responded on social media, and wrote, “Epic made provably incorrect statements about the game’s content, refused to provide details supporting their claims, and has not shared their claimed AO IARC certificate, which normally includes a link for the developer to appeal … They do not ‘love that studio,’ they have effectively ghosted us.”
Brian Sharon, Epic Games’ senior communications manager, subsequently told IGN that Horses was flagged for violating the Epic Games Store’s policy guidelines about inappropriate, hateful, or abusive content.
“We did a secondary check by filling out the ratings questionnaire for the game ourselves and the content got an Adults Only (AO) rating–which we do not allow on the Store,” wrote Sharon. “Because this wasn’t an official submission, we do not have a certificate to share with the team. We did give the developers context around the policies they violated. When they appealed, we reviewed the content again, and let them know the decision was appropriately applied and will remain in place.”
In December, Santa Ragione disclosed that Horses had sold 18,000 copies in two weeks despite being shut out of the two biggest PC game distributors. That gave the developer enough money to pay off its debts, but not enough to begin production of a new game.
Horses remains available for $5 on GOG, and Itch.io.
