Indie studio Santa Ragione has announced its closure as its latest project will not be available on Steam, by far the biggest PC gaming showcase and an important outlet for many developers. horsesA first-person horror game that combines gameplay and live-action scenes and tells the story of a student who spends a summer on a farm. But the “horses” on the farm are actually naked adults wearing horse masks. It’s empty the trailer it’s an adult game.
The studio is planning a release. horses in it epic game store, scratch and this on December 2. But by Valve’s content review team blocked horses steam.
“We reviewed the game in 2023. At the time, the developer had indicated with the release date on Steamworks that they planned to release the game a few months later. Based on the content on the store page, we informed the developer that we would need to review the version ourselves. This sometimes happens when the content on the store page raises concerns that the game itself does not meet our guidelines,” said Valve. PC player. “After our team reviewed the build and reviewed the content, we provided feedback to the developer as to why we could not release the game on Steam, based on our onboarding rules and guidelines. Shortly thereafter, the developer asked us to reconsider the review, and our internal content review team discussed this in detail and notified the developer that we have not released the game on Steam.”
holy reason written in a frequently asked question which is “dedicated to producing sophisticated stories for adults.” horses uses grotesque and subversive imagery to tackle power, faith and violence. We reject subjective standards of obscenity and believe that this type of hypocritical censorship harkens back to a darker past, when vague notions of “decency” were used to silence artists. Games are an artistic medium and legal works for adults must remain available. We respect players enough to present the game as intended and let adults choose what they want to play. Legitimate works should not be made unavailable by opaque decisions of a monopolistic company.
This specific ban follows the recent censorship of adult games at the request of payment processors. Santa Ragione wanted to create a Steam store page for horses in 2023 to arouse interest. The studio says Valve wanted to see a playable version of the game before approving a “Coming Soon” page. The game was far from finished, so Santa Ragione made every effort to create a playable version of the game. “Lots of placement cards.”
According to an email from Valve shared by the developer, it is prohibited horses from Storefront for “content that we believe appears to depict the sexual behavior of a minor.” Santa Ragione stated that Valve had not given more detailed reasons for rejecting the game. Valve indicated that it would not accept further communications horses“even with adjustments.”
The developer said he spent the next two years trying to get Valve to change its mind, but the company repeatedly referred him to Steam’s general policies and denied his “review and appeal requests.” However, Santa Ragione has a plausible theory as to why Valve blocked the game on Steam. The studio wrote in the FAQ:
All of the characters in the game are clearly over 20 years old, as evidenced by their appearance, dialogue, and documents found in the game. We believe the ban was triggered at the time of Steam’s initial reveal due to an incomplete scene on day six, where a man and his young daughter visit the farm.
The girl wants to ride one of the horses (in the game “horses” are people wearing horse masks) and she gets to choose which one. An interactive dialogue scene follows where the player leads a naked adult woman on a leash and a little girl on her shoulders, as if she were a horse. There is nothing sexual in the scene, but it is possible that the approach itself caused the complaint.
We have since changed the character in the scene to a woman in her mid-twenties, both to avoid juxtaposition and, more importantly, because of the dialogue presented in this scene, which is about the social structure of the world of the world. horsesIt works much better when delivered by an older character.
Due to the Steam ban, Santa Ragione says it will be “very difficult” to recoup investment horses, which he says “is not pornographic.” Approximately $100,000 was spent developing the game.
The studio initially invested $50,000 of its own money. horses after signing a contract with the game’s creator, Andrea Lucco Borlera. It was hoped that these costs could be covered by the sales of their latest game. Saturnaliabut it did not turn out as the studio expected. horses Santa Ragione said the Steam ban made it virtually impossible to find a publisher or third-party partner, so the company ended up collecting donations from friends to complete the game. As such, the studio said it is currently “in a completely unsustainable financial situation unless the game can somehow recoup its development costs.”
Santa Ragione plans to continue its support horses for at least six months after discharge. Funding has been provided to cover the cost of bug fixes and quality of life improvements. But apart from that horses Finding success in stores other than Steam could be the studio’s last attempt.
“I don’t want to make a final decision until I see how the game will perform at launch. But if things go as I hope, then in my opinion the closure of the studio will be inevitable,” said Pietro Righi Riva, co-founder of Santa Ragione. GameIndustry.biz. “All the money we make goes to the author and the people who offered money to finish the project. So there probably won’t be any money left to make another (game)… Unless a miracle happens.” horses he is doing very well.