Epic pulled the horror game Horses from its store literally one day before launch after previously approving it multiple times. The company claimed the indie title from Santa Ragione violated policies around inappropriate content and animal abuse, slapping it with an Adults Only rating that blocks it from the platform. The developer says none of that stuff actually exists in the game since all nudity gets pixelated out, and the story actively criticizes violence rather than promoting it.
Santa Ragione got ghosted when they tried appealing the decision, receiving only an automated rejection without any specific examples of what Epic found objectionable. The studio already received approval weeks earlier for its final build, and the ratings board gave it a standard mature rating rather than Adults Only when they filled out the paperwork themselves.
The situation gets messier when you remember that Steam let an actual sexual abuse simulator sit on its storefront earlier this year before finally yanking it. One game critiques abuse while the other turned it into entertainment, yet the former gets banned, and the latter made it through review.
Santa Ragione got ghosted when they tried appealing the decision, receiving only an automated rejection without any specific examples of what Epic found objectionable. The studio already received approval weeks earlier for its final build, and the ratings board gave it a standard mature rating rather than Adults Only when they filled out the paperwork themselves.
The situation gets messier when you remember that Steam let an actual sexual abuse simulator sit on its storefront earlier this year before finally yanking it. One game critiques abuse while the other turned it into entertainment, yet the former gets banned, and the latter made it through review.
