Horses, a first-person narrative horror game, was banned from the Epic Games Store just hours before it was set to launch on December 2nd. Then, a day after launch, the Humble store (temporarily) banned it as well. The decision shocked the developers at Santa Ragione, makers of the critically respected Saturnalia, as these storefronts were the homes they’d found for their game two years before it was preemptively banned from Steam.
Valve and Epic say Horses violates their sexual content policies. Humble hasn’t yet said why it banned the game.
I keep seeing the “well its got nudity what did they expect” take and saw this article that talks about the meta-narrative and theme:
https://noescapevg.com/all-that-fucking-bullshit-abouthorses-and-for-what/
It being weird and uncomfortable is the point - Though obviously its not meant to be a game for everyone.
I love the tone of this article. Fuckin tell em.
It’s not that it has nudity. It’s that it had a child riding around on a fully naked adult in a horse mask.
My sleepy brain was expecting something about Umamusume or however you spell that horse girl game
Banned is the wrong word.
Steam chose not to distribute it because it they understood an early build to include children in sexual situations. Further builds did not dissuade them from the original decision.
Epic, who originally was going to distribute based on the developer filling out some form chose not to after filling it out themselves and finding it had a higher rating (adult only) at the last minute.
The developer speculated it was about a specific scene, but based on both steam and epic there are fundamental concerns about the content that led to no distributing on their platforms, which is not banning, that do not align with the story the developers are presenting. It is not likely to be about one scene that was in an earlier build that was the issue for them.
The important thing is that the game is not BANNED in any way whatsoever. It is available on fewer distribution platforms, which reduces visibility, but is not banning any more than exclusive deals or limited releases are banning on other platforms.
Personally I get the impression that the developers see the content very differently than steam and epic because the developers focus on intent and steam and epic focus on what actually exists in the game.
No, banned is the right word colloquially. The media is not eligible to be distributed in the monopolistic or anti-competitive web service run by Valve. It wasn’t banned by a government, but it was indeed banned.
ban 1 of 3 verb ˈban banned; banning; bans Synonyms of ban
transitive verb 1 : to prohibit especially by legal means ban discrimination Is smoking banned in all public buildings? also : to prohibit the use, performance, or distribution of ban a book ban a pesticide 2 : bar entry 2 sense 3c banned from the U.N.>
So, by that definition and the definition everyone else is using, the game has been banned from various marketplaces for games. Context matters. In this context ban is used EXACTLY the same way we talk about banned books at the library.
Terrible timing. There was just that payment processor panic with the porn games. Now you wanna have a kid talk to a naked man with a horse mask. I get its not sexual but read the room. It was clearly a bad idea even if it was meant to convey some profound message. Honestly I dont think that would have ever worked out. Its just whack.
iirc the game was refused by steam before the payment processor thing, and even then, you don’t scrap your whole project because of one moral panic. not only is it bowing down to pressure, it’s also just a terrible idea financially
I mean are you saying they should have left the game as is? Really dont understand your argument here. It seems this is more just bad taste rather than a moral panic.
They made an art piece that tows the line in the minefield so hard that it is causing explosions when people try to follow along…
Yeah ok, so sounds like they accomplished their goal in the art sense and just won’t get the wide audience and monetary rewards for making an art piece that hurt people.
I see nothing wrong here.
Theyre getting more attention from all these articles every day than they ever had before for sure. Theyre loving this. None of their games have had much success, reviews low, player counts near 0… https://steamdb.info/developer/Santa+Ragione/
I dont care what obscure indie awards they won, 99% of people commenting, complaining, etc have never heard of the studio or their games, even within the indie space, the numbers show that.
Yeah, honestly this is a fantastic ad campaign for them and they are in fact getting rewarded for towing that line by getting the conversation on them.
Oh, so its not just Steam banning the game. So shitting on Steam is not fair then: https://www.eurogamer.net/its-extremely-frustrating-and-also-fcked-up-one-of-the-worlds-best-indie-studios-is-facing-shock-closure-following-confounding-steam-ban
“Other people did thing so you can’t blame Steam for doing thing” I absolutely can though
Steam is the one with monopoly power, and the Horses developer has said that publishers didn’t event wasn’t to publish the game if it cannot be on Steam. This argument isn’t applicable to Epic, let alone Humble, which ended up reinstating the game within the day.
Someone needs to bring a trust-busting suit against Valve.
make intentionally shocking art game gets banned surprisedpikachu.jpg
