Indie Dev Santa Ragione Faces Closure After Steam Game Block
▼ Summary
– Italian developer Santa Ragione may face closure after Valve banned its horror game Horses from Steam, preventing it from reaching the primary PC audience and recouping development costs.
– Valve rejected the game due to content it judged as depicting sexual conduct involving a minor, citing themes or imagery that violate its distribution guidelines, even in subtle or “grey area” cases.
– Santa Ragione speculates a scene involving a young girl and a naked adult woman in a non-sexual context may have triggered the ban, leading them to modify the character to a twenty-something woman to avoid misinterpretation.
– Despite the Steam ban, Horses will be available on other platforms including the Epic Games Store, GOG, Itch.io, and Humble, with the studio expressing gratitude for support and alternative distribution channels.
– Valve confirmed it reviewed the game build in 2023, provided feedback based on its guidelines, and upheld the rejection after the developer requested reconsideration, citing internal content review processes.
The future of Italian game studio Santa Ragione hangs in the balance following Valve’s decision to block their upcoming horror title Horses from launching on Steam. This rejection threatens the studio’s financial stability, as Steam represents the primary marketplace for PC gaming audiences. Without access to this platform, Santa Ragione doubts it can recover the development investment made in Horses. The studio has allocated funds to support the game for six months after its release, but beyond that period, resources will be completely exhausted.
In a recent discussion, Santa Ragione co-founder Pietro Righi Riva explained the dire financial implications. “All revenue generated will be directed toward the project’s author and those who financially backed its completion,” Riva stated. “This situation leaves virtually no capital available for developing future projects. Our continued operation would require Horses to achieve extraordinary commercial success through alternative channels.”
Originally announced in June 2023, Horses faced Steam’s rejection just days before its official unveiling. The developer maintains that Valve provided no avenue for appeal or discussion regarding the decision. The automated notification from Valve, which Santa Ragione published in their FAQ section, explicitly stated: “We will not be able to ship your game Horses on Steam.” The message continued, “We cannot distribute content that our judgment determines depicts sexual conduct involving a minor. This prohibition extends to subtle representations or what might be considered gray areas, including games set in high schools where characters are declared legally adult.”
Horses presents players with the role of a seasonal farm worker assigned increasingly bizarre and disturbing tasks. The developers theorize that a particular scene might have triggered Valve’s response, one featuring a man and his young daughter visiting the farm. In this sequence, the daughter selects a “horse” (actually a human wearing a horse mask) to ride, leading to an interactive dialogue where the player guides a naked adult woman with the child on her shoulders via a lead. Santa Ragione emphasizes the scene contains no sexual content but acknowledges the visual combination might have raised concerns.
“We’ve since replaced that character with a woman in her twenties,” the studio noted in their FAQ. “This change both addresses potential misinterpretation and improves the narrative impact of dialogue concerning the game’s societal structures.”
Despite the Steam exclusion, Horses will be available through other digital storefronts including the Epic Games Store, GOG, Itch.io, and Humble. Santa Ragione expressed gratitude toward their longstanding supporters and other distribution platforms in an official statement: “We deeply appreciate our community’s support over fifteen years and encourage continued backing of experimental work, which faces increasing challenges in today’s market. We’re thankful to alternative platforms for preserving space for culturally significant experimental projects.”
This incident occurs against the backdrop of Steam’s recent removal of hundreds of games as part of an adult content crackdown, prompted by pressure from payment processors. UKIE, the UK’s games industry trade association, subsequently advocated for payment providers and platforms to place greater trust in established age rating systems and their enforcement mechanisms.
Valve later provided additional context regarding their decision-making process: “We initially reviewed the game in 2023 when the developer indicated an impending release. Store page content prompted us to request the full build for evaluation, which is standard procedure when potential guideline violations are suspected. After thorough playthrough and content assessment, we communicated our reasoning for not shipping the game, consistent with our established guidelines. The developer requested reconsideration, prompting extensive internal discussion before we reaffirmed our final decision.”
(Source: Games Industry)
