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.
Yeah and what I am saying is this is stupid shit to do that for. Someone tried to make a “grotesque story experience” and they got too close for comfort for main stream distributors. You can still acquire the game, just not on these platforms. You can still play it in its intended state, just not on those platforms. So what you are arguing for really is for Steam and Epic to distribute this.
You need to work on your reading comprehension.
Yes, I am. There doesn’t appear to be a non-moral-panic reason for it to be barred, and being barred from steam will have a deleterious effect on the game and on the studio’s ability to keep making games. I wish company didn’t have that power, but they do.
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
This particular game is. It won’t always apply to every game, which is why I want digital marketplaces that have so much market dominance they can make or break studios to not choose which games they allow on their platforms based on vibes.
My argument isn’t incoherent just because you refuse to engage the scenario from a systemic rather than one-off perspective.
Here: https://www.gog.com/en/game/horses play the game. There, thats a major marketplace right there and literally the best one.
I don’t understand why you keep replying without even pretending to engage the points and arguments that I’ve made.
Do you think saying “the game is available elsewhere” addresses what I said about marketplace dominance at all?
Do you think anything you’ve said that only applies to this specific game addresses anything I said about systemic problems?
You aren’t even trying to have a discussion. You’re just saying “I don’t like the game anyway so it’s good it’s not on steam” and pretending it being available on other storefronts and that it happened to go viral has any bearing on any of the points I’ve made when it obviously doesn’t.
In any case, it’s pretty clear at this point that you’re not going to engage with me faithfully, so I’ll be on my way. Have a good day!
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.
GOG’s market share is around 0.5 to 1%. Steam’s is above 75%. So by comparison, GOG is tiny.