Horror Game Maker Accuses Valve Of 'censorship' After Its Game...
Valve told Santa Ragione its game featured child exploitation. The studio says otherwise.
On December 2, Italian game dev studio Santa Ragione will release Horses, a first-person horror adventure telling a story of "the burden of familial trauma and puritan values, the dynamics of totalitarian power, and the ethics of personal responsibility," using what the studio calls "grotesque, subversive imagery" of a ranch where nude human beings in horse masks are treated as animal livestock.
Prerelease demos of Horses have been honored at IndieCade, Day of the Devs, SXSW Sydney showcases, and SFMOMA exhibitions. But while it'll be available for $5 on Epic Games Store, GOG, Itch.io, and the Humble Store for $5, Santa Ragione says the launch of Horses will leave the studio at risk of closing—because in June 2023, after submitting the game for listing on Steam, Santa Ragione received an email from Valve saying Horses was banned from Steam for featuring "content that appears, in our judgment, to depict sexual conduct involving a minor."
In a lengthy FAQ page about the Horses launch, Santa Ragione shares the full text of the alleged June 2023 content review email from Steam:
"After review, we will not be able to ship your game Horses on Steam. While we strive to ship most titles submitted to us, we found that this title features themes, imagery, or descriptions that we won’t distribute. Regardless of a developer’s intentions with their product, we will not distribute content that appears, in our judgment, to depict sexual conduct involving a minor. While every product submitted is unique, if your product features this representation—even in a subtle way that could be defined as a 'grey area'—it will be rejected by Steam. For instance, setting your game in a high school but declaring your characters are of legal age would fall into that category and be banned. This app has been banned and cannot be reused. Re-submissions of this app, even with modifications, will not be accepted."
Santa Ragione says it believes Valve's reasoning to be "deliberately vague and unfounded" and insists "there are no scenes or characters in the game that fall within that grey area." While Valve never clarified the specific reasoning for banning Horses, even after the months Santa Ragione said it spent unsuccessfully seeking further detail and appeals, the studio suspects the ban may have been provoked by what it says was an incomplete scene from the game's sixth day, when the ranch is vi
Source: PC Gamer
