Horses devs accuse Epic of making "provably incorrect statements about the game’s content", after store exec's declaration of love

Epic Games have reiterated that they determined the horror game to violate the store's "Inappropriate Content and Hateful or Abusive Content policies"

Late last year, horror game Horses was denied a release on Steam and the Epic Games Store. Both Valve and Epic judged that Santa Ragione's surreal work violated their rules regarding adult content, while the studio have asserted the the game "uses challenging, unconventional material to encourage discussion" rather than sexually titillate.

Now, an interview given by one of the Epic Store's executives has reignited the war of words between the storefront and Santa Rangione, with the latter accusing Epic of making "provably incorrect statements about the game’s content".

Speaking to Game File (as reported by PC Gamer), Epic Games Store vice president and general manager Steve Allison offered his version of the process which led Horses to be denied a listing. The exec recounted Santa Rangione having filled out an International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) form which determined a mature rating to be suitable for it.

At that point, Epic Games' "trust and safety team thought [Horses] was worth taking a fresh look [at]", and subsequently filled out their own version of the form this time determining an adult only rating to be suitable for Horses. Since the Epic Store doesn't allow games rated adult only, unless the rating is a result of the game using blockchain or NFT tech, that meant it wouldn't host Horses. "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," Allison said.

Santa Rangione have since disputed the executive's retelling via a post on Bluesky. "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. The fact that the game does not deserve an AO rating is apparent from the widely available full walkthroughs on YouTube and Twitch, as well as from its distribution on the Humble Store."

Epic were quick to dispute the disputing, via a statement from senior communications manager Brian Sharon given to Eurogamer. The statement begins by reiterating Epic's position that Horses violated their "'Inappropriate Content' and 'Hateful or Abusive Content' policies" and Allison's assertion that Epic opted to fill out a second rating form themselves.

"Because this wasn’t an official submission, we do not have a certificate to share with the team," the statement continued. "We did give the developers context around the policies they violated. When they appealed, we reviewed the content again, and let them know the decision was appropriately applied and will remain in place."

Many of the above arguments were thrown about around the time of Horses' original Epic ban in December, but this exchange of fire makes clear there hasn't been any simmering down of tension between the two sides in the interim, regardless of how much Epic's execs might profess to love Santa Rangione. Horses, which is worth reading Edwin's full review of, sold well enough to allow Santa Rangione to repay the cash they borrowed to develop it. However, the studio said they've had to suspend operations and look for other work to keep themselves afloat, rather than being able to move straight on to prototyping their next game.