According to Wccftech, the indie horror game Horses from developer Santa Ragione was banned from the Epic Games Store on December 1, 2025, just 24 hours before its planned launch. This follows a similar, vague ban from Valve’s Steam storefront earlier. Epic cited violations of its “Inappropriate Content” and “Hateful or Abusive Content” policies, claiming an internal review gave the game an Adult Only (AO) rating. However, Santa Ragione states the game had already been approved for an EGS release, with a final build approved over two weeks prior, and that it received a PEGI 18/Mature rating from the official IARC questionnaire, not AO. The developer claims the game contains no explicit sexual acts or promotion of abuse, with all nudity pixelated. The game is still launching today, December 2, on GOG, Humble, and Itch.io.
The Epic Problem Is Worse
Here’s the thing: while both bans are bad, Epic’s handling seems uniquely brutal. Steam banned an early build and was vague. But Epic approved the game, let the developer prepare for launch, and then pulled the rug out a single day before release. That’s a devastating operational blow for a small studio. They’d built store pages, configured achievements, and likely directed marketing traffic. Epic’s email, which you can read on the developer’s site, quotes policy but provides zero specific examples. How can you fix what you can’t identify? Santa Ragione’s appeal got an automated denial. So much for partnership.
A Disturbing Double Standard
This situation highlights a frustrating and frankly disturbing double standard in storefront moderation. Earlier this year, as reported by VGC, Steam hosted a game that explicitly promoted sexual assault for entertainment. It only came down after public outcry and was initially only removed in select regions. Compare that to Horses, which the developer describes as a “strong critique of violence and abuse.” One is exploitation; the other is commentary. Yet the commentary gets blacklisted without a clear path to resolution, while the exploitative trash somehow slips through. What message does that send to developers trying to tackle serious themes?
The Real Casualty Is Trust
The immediate impact is financial—Santa Ragione says it may not recoup costs, potentially shuttering the studio. But the long-term damage is to trust. How can any indie developer feel secure investing time and resources into a platform when approvals can be reversed at the eleventh hour with no dialogue? It creates a chilling effect. Developers will either avoid mature themes altogether or stick to more open storefronts like Itch.io. For Epic, which has spent billions trying to compete with Steam by offering better developer revenue splits, this kind of capricious enforcement undermines its entire value proposition. Why would a dev choose 88/12 over 70/30 if the 88 comes with unpredictable, last-minute bans?
What Happens Now?
So where does this leave us? Horses is out on smaller platforms, but its commercial potential is severely hamstrung without Steam and Epic. The core issue remains: opaque, inconsistent content moderation that feels arbitrary and unaccountable. Valve and Epic are acting as judge, jury, and executioner with little transparency. Until these platforms implement clearer, more communicative processes—and apply them consistently—stories like this will keep happening. And the losers won’t just be developers. It’ll be players, who miss out on challenging, unconventional games because a storefront bot or a nervous reviewer decided to say “no” at the last possible second.
