Santa Ragione has announced that it has paid back all the money it borrowed to develop surreal horror game Horses, despite the fact that denied release on Steam And epic game store. It's a better result than expected, given Steam's central role in PC gaming and a strong show of support for art that's willing to ignore taboos and explore something deeply ugly. However, this is not enough to keep Santa Ragione operational.
As they warned when they broke their silence on the Steam ban last month, the developers are suspending work and looking for other work. They may be able to get the band back together in the future, but “it won't be easy.”
Since its launch on GOG, Humble and Itch Horses has sold 18,000 copies across all platforms, generating approximately $65,000 in net revenue, according to Santa Ragione. Back in November, the developers told us that after the Steam ban, they borrowed approximately $50,000 from friends to complete development, with a total budget of $100,000.
“After payment of the royalties due to Andrea Lucco Borlera, the author and creator of HORSES, these funds will be sufficient to repay the loans we took out to complete the development,” said a press release sent to RPS last night. “We are extremely grateful to the players and everyone who supported the release by sharing the game and talking about what happened around it. Paying off our debts is a success and we are relieved.
“At the same time, this result is not enough to start production of a new game,” he continues. “This money primarily covers the liabilities incurred as a result of the long development shutdown. If sales remain stable, we may be able to fund a new prototype in the future, but the team has had and will continue to focus on other work and projects in the meantime. Reuniting everyone will not be easy, even if we would really like to.”
Steam rejected the unfinished version of Horses in June 2023. The platform owner's reasons for this decision remain unclear, but according to a Valve statement released by Santa Ragione herself, the platform owner's reviewers were concerned about images of “sexual conduct involving minors.” Subsequently, the developers changed the game so that all characters were noticeably over 20 years old. They also argued that while “Horses” does contain depictions of various types of sexual violence, it does not seek to titillate or glorify.
I have Horse reviewand while I haven't played and therefore can't speak for the June 2023 WIP build, this is absolutely not a work of child pornography. This is a story of sexual oppression and cruelty, in which censorship is seen as a form of sadism. The violence it depicts is depicted as technologically mediated, both through the in-game projector and through various self-related design elements. It is clearly not intended to be taken as an “unfiltered” representation and endorsement. To argue otherwise is to misunderstand the game or, worse, take it out of context.
In a sales statement this week, Santa Ragione wrote that the Steam ban triggered “a lengthy struggle for funding with debt, opportunity costs, and team members taking on other jobs.” In other words, the studio had already begun to fall apart long before Santa Ragione made Valve's decision public.
The developers also note that while Horses was a relative hit at launch, the game will miss out on long-term revenue from Steam's numerous sales and bundle offers. “Steam's economics rely heavily on multi-year long-tail sales and, for our past projects, the distribution of Steam keys via bundles, which has also recently been limited for low-selling games,” they write. “These structural differences are why strong two-week results on smaller storefronts don't tell us what a full Steam release might look like.”
I'm interested in learning more about the key distribution situation. Santa Ragione previously criticized Valve for refusing to provide them with Steam keys for a “great bundle opportunity” featuring Saturnaliatheir previous famous horror game.
Finally, the developers will refocus attention on Valve's role as the de facto regulator and censor of the industry, given the size of its share in the computer games market. They write that higher-than-expected horse sales “should not distract from the broader issue: the need for clearer rules, transparent processes and meaningful accountability from near-monopoly distribution platforms and the systems they enable.
“For every case like HORSES that comes to light, there are many more games that are quietly banned, delisted, or placed on indefinite control for unclear reasons, with developers too concerned about retaliation or future approval to speak publicly,” the statement said.
Continuing the theme of the final sentence, I will say that the news that Steam blocked Horses came next. wider crackdown on adult games both on the Valve platform and on the independent storefront Itch.io. This summer Valve and Itch changed their submission conditions Give international payment processing networks a say in determining acceptable adult content.
Payment networks themselves seem to have tightened their rules under pressure from anti-misogyny groups and anti-pornography activists with ultra-conservative views. A counter-campaign is currently underway to force payment networks to change their policies. organized community figures such as journalist and YouTuber Ana Valens. We'll probably have more reporting on this topic next year.
Update: The title of this article originally said that Horses had “broken even” because I'm a fool who doesn't understand words. It has been edited.
