The horror game Horses has turned into a cautionary tale about what happens when a tiny studio collides with opaque platform rules. In a recent interview that sparked a widely shared Reddit thread, creative director Pietro Righi Riva said it is very likely the studio will not be able to fund another game after Horses, even if it sells well enough to pay off debts.
The team behind Horses, Italian indie studio Santa Ragione, has been making experimental games for around 15 years, but the Steam ban and subsequent delistings from major storefronts have pushed the studio to the brink of closure.
What Is Horses And Who Made It?
Horses is a narrative-driven horror game that uses disturbing imagery and unsettling themes to explore power, exploitation, and human bodies, which led to it being labeled as one of the most provocative indie releases of 2025. Santa Ragione, the studio behind it, previously released games like Saturnalia and Wheels of Aurelia, as well as earlier, lower-budget visual projects and even a board game.
Over roughly eight to nine titles, the team built a reputation for experimental, artistically driven games rather than mainstream hits, and they often worked with modest budgets and small staff sizes. That history meant Horses was an unusually ambitious project for them, both creatively and financially.
How The Steam Ban And Delisting Happened
Horses had been in development for around two years and reportedly cost more than 100,000 dollars to produce, a huge sum for a small, self-funded studio. The game was initially meant to launch on PC through major storefronts, including Steam, Epic Games Store, and later others like Humble.
Valve ultimately rejected the game on Steam, with the studio saying they received no concrete guidance on what to change, despite the title having passed age ratings from bodies like ESRB and PEGI. After that, Epic and later Humble also removed or refused the game, leaving GOG and itch.io as the main PC storefronts willing to sell Horses.
Sales, Debt, And Why Another Game Is Unlikely
Despite the bans, coverage and controversy actually helped Horses sell surprisingly well on the platforms that did carry it, with reports that the game reached at least five figures in sales and topped charts on GOG and itch.io. A Reddit summary of the situation notes community estimates of more than 10,000 copies sold so far, based on typical ratios between user reviews and overall sales.
In interviews, Riva explains that current sales projections should allow Santa Ragione to pay back loans and clear the production debt from Horses, which is a major relief for the team personally. However, he is clear that this revenue is unlikely to be enough to bankroll a new project from scratch, especially after the studio had to halt development midway through Horses for months due to funding uncertainty.
Why Losing Steam Hurt So Much
For a small studio releasing a PC-focused game, Steam is often the single biggest storefront, and Riva estimates that being locked out effectively removed around three quarters of their potential market. Without access to Steam wishlists, discovery algorithms, and bundles, the team lost both ongoing visibility and the long-tail sales that typically keep indies afloat between projects.
Santa Ragione also points to an earlier issue with their previous game Saturnalia, where Valve refused to provide additional Steam keys, limiting their ability to run external bundles and generate cashflow for the next project. Combined with the outright ban on Horses, they describe the situation as a broken system where opaque decisions by a near-monopolistic platform can determine whether a small studio lives or dies.
Santa Ragione’s Track Record At A Glance
| Project | Type | Notable Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space | Board game | First published work and start of the studio’s experimental focus. |
| Wheels of Aurelia | Narrative driving game | Helped build the studio’s reputation for unconventional storytelling. |
| Saturnalia | Horror game | Faced Steam key restrictions that limited bundle revenue. |
| Horses | Narrative horror | Banned on Steam and Epic, now a hit on GOG and itch.io but may still end the studio. |
What This Means For Indie Devs
Riva argues that even when a game is legal and rated, storefronts can still apply vague content rules that function as de facto censorship when they control such a huge slice of the market. For indie teams already working on thin margins, that kind of opaque decision making can turn a risky but viable project into a financial dead end.
The Horses saga also highlights how relying on a single major platform is dangerous, but realistically unavoidable for many small studios that lack the marketing budget to drive players directly to smaller stores. The result is a climate where one unexplained ban can end a 15-year-old outfit that had, until now, managed to stay sustainable while making unusual, non-mainstream games.
FAQs About Horses And The Studio
Why is the Horses developer saying they likely will not make another game?
In a recent interview, director Pietro Righi Riva said that current sales projections for Horses might cover debts but probably will not generate enough surplus to fund a new project, especially after development was paused and platforms like Steam refused the game.
Who is the studio behind Horses?
Horses is developed by Santa Ragione, a small Italian studio known for experimental titles like Wheels of Aurelia and Saturnalia, as well as the board game Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space.
Was Horses actually banned or just delisted from Steam?
Reporting describes Horses as being rejected and effectively banned from Steam ahead of release, with the studio saying Valve removed it from the platform and refused to host it despite ratings from official classification boards.
Where can players legally buy Horses?
Although it is absent from Steam, Epic, and Humble, Horses is available through storefronts like GOG and itch.io, where it has climbed sales charts and gained a strong following despite the controversy.
Did the controversy help sales of the game?
Yes, coverage around the ban appears to have boosted visibility, and articles describe Horses as a hit or top seller on several smaller platforms, even if that success still may not be enough to finance a future game for the studio.
How much did Horses cost to make?
Reports and community breakdowns suggest the project budget exceeded 100,000 dollars and took around two years to develop, which is a major investment for a small independent team.
Is the studio closing completely?
Riva has said the team expects to support Horses for several months with updates and bug fixes, and many members already have other jobs or contracts, but making a new Santa Ragione game looks unlikely without a big spike in sales or a new funding partner.
Conclusion
The Horses situation is a stark reminder that even a critically discussed, commercially respectable indie game can leave its creators unable to keep going when platform access collapses. Santa Ragione may be able to walk away without debt, but losing Steam and other major storefronts has likely cost them the chance to build a future around the kind of bold, risky games they set out to make in the first place.
For players, the story behind Horses is not just about one disturbing horror title, but about how much power a few storefronts hold over what kinds of games get to exist at all.