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An unsettling indie game about horses keeps getting banned from stores (www.theverge.com)
submitted 11 months ago by to c/gaming@beehaw.org
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Horses, a first-person narrative horror game, was banned from the Epic Games Store just hours before it was set to launch on December 2nd. Then, a day after launch, the Humble store (temporarily) banned it as well. The decision shocked the developers at Santa Ragione, makers of the critically respected Saturnalia, as these storefronts were the homes they’d found for their game two years before it was preemptively banned from Steam.

Valve and Epic say Horses violates their sexual content policies. Humble hasn’t yet said why it banned the game.

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[–] 3 points 11 months ago* (15 children)

Its their platform. In what world can you force people to sell shit they dont want to sell? You can literally go buy it and experience the art right now. But its not on Steam with achievements and friends seeing me play it so fuck it? Lmao what logic is this? Theres not much left to discuss here tbh. This seems pretty straightforward and your argument is incoherent at this point. They are getting loads of marketing from this

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  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago (7 children)

    I’m with you until I got here. What world can you force people to sell shit they don’t want to sell? In a world with anti trust laws.

    I like steam, but arbitrary decisions like this is going to get them under fire by the FTC sooner rather than later.

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  • [–] 0 points 11 months ago (6 children)

    This all happened because they had a literal child riding one of the naked adults on a lead and then wanted to play dumb. I dont agree with Steam practically controlling the PC market, but this one is a case of the developers stepping on their own rake and then turning around and saying "look what they've done to me!" I don't know why this is such an unpopular opinion. But I digress. Because in actuality I would simply not buy the game, I don't actually care if it is available on Steam, I'm just saying having a kid ride a naked adults shoulders is very obviously not going to pass their content checks.

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  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago (5 children)

    And I would agree with you if that content were still in the game.

    If they are disallowed on Steam, with no recourse, and Steam’s market share is 75%, this is the letter and verse WHY we have antitrust laws. They are the textbook definition of a monopoly.

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  • [–] 0 points 11 months ago (4 children)

    If you burn someone like that, they aren't going to accept do overs. "Sorry for what you perceived as CSAM" doesn't work.

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago (3 children)

    A monopoly giving zero recourse doesn’t work, either. It’s a shame, because I like steam for the most part.

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago (2 children)

    A federated game distribution platform would be cool. Something no one can own. I dont think that will happen in our capitalist world. But I also dont think this particular problem would be solved by that.

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  • [+] 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (6 children)
    [deleted]
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  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago (5 children)

    Here: https://www.gog.com/en/game/horses play the game. There, thats a major marketplace right there and literally the best one.

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  • [+] 1 point 11 months ago (4 children)
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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago (3 children)

    What systemic problems? The systemic problem of distributors not distributing games with children interacting with naked adults? Thats not a fucken problem unless you're a libertarian. The porn game crusade is a huge problem. This is not that. I don't believe this is the game that will push through complete freedom of creation. I also dont believe our current public zeitgeist is ready to handle the complex questions that arise from content like this. I didnt even say I didnt like the game. I havent played it. I'm sure its as thought provoking as Solarium or SOMA. But acting like this is a moral panic overreach of sensorship is a little much when its still available on one of the biggest game marketplaces available AND you'll get the offline installer for it. Go play it. I just might after all this and see what the hubub is actually about.

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  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago (2 children)

    GOG's market share is around 0.5 to 1%. Steam's is above 75%. So by comparison, GOG is tiny.

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  • [–] 0 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    Sounds like a business discussion was not had if they really are "serious abiut their product" like horses.wtf says they are. Thousands of games go on there each year and dont have this problem.

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  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago*

    Isn't that part of the discussion? That Valve can just arbitrarily reject a game. Before the payment processors stepped in for example, which was also the time Valve "banned" Horses, Steam had games that had the four-letter r word in their description and Valve didn't care despite being contacted by Collective Shout. One could argue they're lying, but as someone who's worked with most major publishers, I can believe them, because Valve is almost impossible to reach. In my experience, and based on what I've been hearing, most of the time they simply don't reply to press requests. Instead they do these publicity stunts where Gabe Newell will occasionally reply to random people online, knowing the reply will be posted to social media, or he'll do an interview with a nobody on YouTube.

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