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Banned From Steam and Epic, Arthouse Horror ‘Horses’ Rides GOG Sales as Studio Flags Ongoing Risk

The developer reports a sales bump on GOG that still fails to replace Steam’s reach, leaving finances in doubt.

Overview

  • Valve says it reviewed Horses in 2023, gave feedback, and ultimately decided it would not ship on Steam under its onboarding rules.
  • Epic removed the game roughly a day before launch, citing violations of its Inappropriate Content and Hateful or Abusive Content policies.
  • Santa Ragione says platform reviewers have not specified which scenes or elements triggered the bans.
  • Horses is currently available on GOG and itch.io, briefly disappeared from the Humble Store before being reinstated, and has climbed GOG’s bestseller rankings.
  • Cofounder Pietro Righi Riva says publicity helped recoup part of the roughly $100,000 budget but warns the loss of Steam access threatens the studio and could drive self-censorship.