By
Nicholas Becher
Published 19 minutes ago
Nicholas Becher is a gaming journalist with an MFA in Creative Writing from FAU. With extensive experience playing video games, he covers all forms of gaming content at Screen Rant, from breaking news to the latest fan theories. Most-played games range from Clair Obscur to Civ to Elden Ring to Halo 2 and beyond.
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Steam has become an essential platform for indie game developers, enabling many solo developers and small studios to launch their projects to a massive audience they'd otherwise not have access to. So when a decision is made to "ban" a game from the platform, it can have substantial consequences on the affected studio.
In one recent example, the indie horror game HORSES from Santa Ragione Game Studio was banned from launching on Steam, who apparently provided no reason or explanation for the ban other than directing developers to Steam’s general guidelines. "Requests for review and appeal were denied over and over," and devs claim to have exhausted all options in overturning the ban, to no avail, deciding to launch the game without Steam approval on December 2, 2025.
Steam Bans Horror Game HORSES Ahead Of Launch
The HORSES Steam ban should be a concern for indie developers interested in launching their products on Steam, especially given Steam's lack of a response to appeals made by Santa Ragione studios. Devs offer their explanation for why they think they were not approved by Steam, pointing to the "grotesque, subversive imagery" used in the game that is intended "to confront power, faith, and violence."
Santa Ragione devs accuse Steam of enacting "subjective obscenity standards" and antiquated acts of "moralizing censorship," though it's unclear if this is true given Steam's silence on the issue. Allegedly, "the ban notice did not cite any specific scenes or elements," and the studio even offered to change or modify content early in the process in order to fit Steam's guidelines, which Steam seems to have ignored as well.
The Studio Is In Big Trouble Now
Despite the fact they never received Steam approval, HORSES devs decided to move ahead with the game's launch on other platforms, and did not alter or change any content to do so. There were apparently no issues with the game's content for other platforms such as GOG or Epic Games, etc., and as such HORSES is scheduled to release everywhere else besides Steam on December 2.
Unfortunately, that means the studio is taking a big hit when it comes to sales and exposure, which is a huge problem considering they've taken on massive debt to create the game and will need to amass tens of thousands in sales in order to break even. Ultimately, Steam's decision to ban HORSES may in fact be legitimate, but without an official explanation or more thorough details about the decision, the ban appears very arbitrary and unfair.
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