‘They have effectively ghosted us:’ publisher of delisted art game Horses lambasts Epic Games Store after executive claims ‘we love that studio’

Responding to recent statements by Epic Game Store VP and general manager Steve Allison in a Game File interview, indie publisher Santa Ragione has again publicly criticized EGS’ handling of Horses, a controversial art game that was delisted from both the Epic and Steam storefronts⁠—Santa Ragione has argued in both cases that the storefronts employ uneven standards with adult games, and that they failed to clearly communicate the reasoning behind Horses’ removal.

Speaking to Game File, Allison said that “[Santa Ragione] went through the self-publishing process and [Horses] went through,” referring to how the studio filled out an International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) form to determine it had an M-rating⁠—and thus, was fit for EGS⁠—leading to its initial listing on the platform.

Epic made provably incorrect statements about the game’s content, refused to provide details supporting their claims, and has not shared their claimed AO IARC certificate, which normally includes a link for the developer to appeal. They do not ‘love that studio’, they have effectively ghosted us

— @santaragione.com (@santaragione.com.bsky.social) 2026-02-09T02:45:01.874Z

“My understanding is the trust and safety team thought [Horses] was worth taking a fresh look, and they determined that it indeed was against our policies on a couple fronts,” said Allison. Epic performed its own IARC assessment of Horses and judged it to be Adult’s Only (AO), the ESRB’s X-rated kiss of death, leading to the game’s removal from the Epic Store a day before launch.

“And so, the call came late—and we love that studio; we did their previous game as a short exclusive—but because that [trust and safety] team, that’s their job and that is, if you do the letter of the law on our policies, it is what it is.”

As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, Epic told Santa Ragione that it does not carry AO games as a matter of policy, with an exception “for products in cases where an AO rating was applied solely due to the usage of blockchain or NFT technology.”

Allison told Game File that the second look at Horses was prompted by news and discussion about the game close to release. While Horses had been delisted from Steam for two years, Summer 2025 saw a series of high profile instances where conservative activist groups (via payment processors like Visa and Mastercard) pressured Steam and itch.io to remove adult content.

This, in turn, brought renewed attention to Horses’ delisting from Steam, particularly in the face of much more high-profile games on the platform with realistic, uncensored full-frontal nudity like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, equally disturbing subject matter like Fear and Hunger, or both, like the Outlast series.

Horses portrays a surreal “farm” in rural Italy where hypnotized, nude human beings in horse masks are treated as livestock and dominated by a sadistic overseer. Horses has been compared to Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, Pier Paolo Pasolini’s infamous voyage into the fascist id⁠.

The second half of the game, in particular, portrays or implies brutal acts of sexual violence, but always visually censored⁠—the “horses,” as well as the horrible things that happen to them, are all obscured with a pixellation effect.

Santa Ragione took to Bluesky to dispute Allison’s framing of these events. “Epic made provably incorrect statements about the game’s content, refused to provide details supporting their claims, and has not shared their claimed AO IARC certificate, which normally includes a link for the developer to appeal,” the studio wrote. “They do not ‘love that studio’, they have effectively ghosted us.”

Santa Ragione also points to the existence of unredacted longplays of Horses on YouTube and Twitch as evidence the AO rating was misapplied by Epic⁠—both platforms have made news in the past for aggressive moderation of speech and explicit content. Horses also remains available for purchase on both GOG and the Humble Store.

“Horses is interesting for other reasons too, and I hope that the unfortunate situation of its release won’t stop us from considering what the game is actually doing, whether it works, and where it fits in with the conversation of the wider texts it draws inspiration from,” PC Gamer contributor Maddi Chilton concluded in a review of the game last December.

“Despite its shortfalls, Horses is a genuine attempt to approach, through videogames, the spaces that film and literature take for granted, and we shouldn’t overlook that just because Steam was squeamish.”