Santa Ragione’s unsettling horror game Horses was removed from the Epic Games Store roughly 24 hours before its planned launch, the studio says, after Valve had already blocked the title on Steam. The developer announced the change on Bluesky and published an updated FAQ on its site explaining the fallout. The team also confirmed the game remains available on GOG, Itch, and Humble for $4.99.
Yesterday, the Epic Games Store decided at the last minute not to distribute the game, after having previously approved a release build. HORSES is otherwise now available on GOG, Itch, and Humble for $4.99. www.horses.wtf
— Santa Ragione (@santaragione.com) 2025-12-02T17:10:53.821Z
According to Santa Ragione, Epic approved a final launch build 18 days ago but then told the studio late on December 1 that the title would not be distributed. The developer’s FAQ at horses.wtf says this timing left the team no practical opportunity to make changes before the scheduled release.
Epic’s content review cited violations of the store’s rules for “inappropriate content” and “hateful or abusive content” and said the International Age Rating Coalition returned an AO rating when Epic completed the IARC questionnaire. Epic also told the studio that AO-rated products cannot be distributed on the Epic Games Store, with a narrow exception for blockchain or NFT cases.
Santa Ragione rejects the characterizations. The studio maintains the game is “a strong critique of violence and abuse in general,” says there are no explicit or frequent depictions of sexual behavior, and that all nudity is censored. The developer adds the game contains only four brief and censored sexual sequences and that an earlier flagged scene featuring a child was replaced with an adult.
Epic still listed a store page for Horses with a “coming soon” note at the time of the report, a sign the removal was processed quickly and left some public-facing metadata unchanged. Santa Ragione also told IGN that the decision has pushed the studio into a funding hole of roughly $100,000 and that it now faces a likely shutdown if revenue from other storefronts does not cover the shortfall.
The episode highlights ongoing friction around platform content policy and moderation, and how last-minute reversals can devastate small teams. The situation arrives against a backdrop of broader conversation about store practices and tagging rules for games on Steam and other digital platforms. Epic’s own store features and policies have been under frequent attention recently, including new features such as its recent gifting rollout at the Epic Games Store.
Santa Ragione says it appealed Epic’s decision and was told the ban would stand. The studio says it does not know what, if anything, it could change at short notice to meet Epic’s concerns. If nothing changes, Horses will reach players through GOG, Itch, and Humble while the developer weighs next steps and the financial impact.
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Horses
Developed by Andrea Lucco Borlera
