According to Polygon, the indie horror game Horses, developed by Santa Ragione, was banned from Steam and pulled from the Epic Games Store just before its launch two weeks ago. Despite this, the game has sold 18,000 copies, generating $65,000 in net revenue for the studio. That income was sufficient to pay off the loans the team took out to fund the final months of development. The studio’s director, Pietro Righi Riva, had previously stated the team might not make another game after this experience. In a new press release, the studio confirmed that while debts are cleared, the revenue isn’t enough to start a new project. The game is now only available for purchase on GOG, Itch.io, and the Humble Store.
The weird reality of storefront censorship
Here’s the thing: by most accounts, Horses isn’t even that extreme. It deals with heavy themes like violence and sexual assault, but all nudity is pixelated and the entire game is in black and white, which censors any blood. So why the ban? That’s the million-dollar question nobody seems to have a clear answer for. It feels like a capricious, opaque decision from platform holders that creates massive financial risk for small studios. The delay caused by scrambling after the ban is what forced Santa Ragione into debt in the first place. They got bailed out by community support, but it’s a hell of a way to run a marketplace.
When controversy becomes the only marketing
Let’s be honest, getting banned probably sold more copies than a quiet launch on Steam ever would have. The narrative of the plucky indie dev being unfairly censored by faceless store giants is powerful fuel. The studio openly thanked the press and creators who “amplified what happened.” This is a classic case of a setback being leveraged into the only viable story. But is that a sustainable business model? Absolutely not. You can’t budget for a loan hoping your game gets mysteriously delisted to drive sales. This was a lucky, stressful break, not a strategy.
The fragile economics of indie dev
The studio’s statement is brutally honest and highlights the razor’s edge these teams live on. $65,000 in two weeks is a great result for a niche horror game! But it’s just a “debt clearance success,” not a “fund our next project for two years” success. The team is fragmenting, taking other jobs, and reuniting will be hard. This is the real story. Clearing a debt after a launch crisis is now considered a win. It shows how little margin for error exists. One arbitrary decision from a platform can force a team to the brink, and “success” just means getting back to zero.
What comes next?
So where does this leave Santa Ragione? In limbo, basically. They have a clean slate, but no war chest. They mention that if sales remain steady, they might be able to fund a new prototype… someday. The whole saga underscores a massive power imbalance. For giants like Steam and Epic, pulling a game is a minor content moderation blip. For a small developer, it’s an existential threat that derails years of work. The fact that Horses found an audience despite the bans is a testament to the game and its developers. But it shouldn’t require a public controversy and financial panic to make that happen. The system is broken, and this is just another case file.
