Epic Bans Indie Horror Game Horses Just One Day Before Launch Due...

Horses is out today, but you won't find it on the two biggest PC gaming storefronts.

A week after the indie horror game Horses was banned from Steam, and just one day before it was set to launch elsewhere, Epic Games has decided that it too will not allow the game to be sold on its storefront. Publisher Santa Ragione said in a blog update that Epic informed it of the decision at 5 pm CET/11 am ET on December 1, saying the game violates its policies on "inappropriate content" and "hateful or abusive content."

Epic didn't tell Santa Ragione how exactly Horses violated its guidelines, according to an email from the publisher sent to PC Gamer, but only made what it described as "broad and demonstrably incorrect claims" about it. Santa Ragione filed an appeal, but it was rejected 12 hours later with no further explanation. Epic also indicated the game could be updated to bring it into compliance, but "the email did not include any information on what would need to be changed," Santa Ragione said, and even if it had there'd be no way to make extensive changes one day ahead of release.

Epic was not more forthcoming on the matter in a statement provided to PC Gamer. "We set clear guidelines for the content that can be distributed on the Epic Games Store and found violations of those guidelines during our extensive review," Epic Games communications director Jake Jones said.

Part of that review process, Epic told Santa Ragione, included filling out an International Age Rating Coalition questionnaire on Horses, which it says resulted in an Adult Only (AO) rating. This seems odd: Santa Ragione said it had already filled out the questionnaire as part of Epic's submission process, and did not receive an AO: "We received a PEGI 18 and an ESRB M rating, as currently displayed on the Horses coming soon page on the Epic Games Store." Both of those ratings can still be seen on the storefront.

Santa Ragione also questioned why Epic would redo the questionnaire at all, given that developers have to fill it out themselves in order to be allowed to sell their games in the first place. It further claimed that builds of Horses had already been submitted and reviewed by Epic, "with the final achievements-ready build being approved for release 18 days prior to launch."

As it did following the Steam ban, Santa Ragione argued that Horses "does NOT contain explicit or frequent depictions of sexual behavior."

"All nudity in the game is completely censored via pixelation," the pu

Source: PC Gamer