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Update: Epic Games' senior communications manager, Brian Sharon, told GamesRadar+ that the horror game did in fact violate the storefront's content guidelines. Here's his full statement down below:
"Our team played the game and found it violated the Epic Games Store’s Content Guidelines, specifically the ‘Inappropriate Content’ and ‘Hateful or Abusive Content’ policies. We did a secondary check by filling out the ratings questionnaire for the game ourselves and the content got an Adults Only (AO) rating – which we do not allow on the Store. Because this wasn’t an official submission, we do not have a certificate to share with the team. 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."
Original story: Horses developer Santa Ragione has called out an Epic Games executive for making what it calls "provably incorrect" comments about the surreal horror game that was banned on multiple storefronts late last year.
Italian developer and well loved horror maker Santa Ragione found itself in hot water a few months ago after Steam blocked its latest game, the aforementioned Horses, from release on the storefront. The Epic Games Store got similarly cold feet, and being cut off from a huge percentage of PC gamers meant the studio is unlikely to have enough money to fund any future projects, according to its producer.
Now speaking to Game File about the situation, Epic Games vice president Steve Allison said "We love that studio" and claimed the ban was a result of content that "was against our policies on a couple fronts."
Santa Ragione has now responded to those comments on social media, writing: "Epic made provably incorrect statements about the game's content, refused to provide details supporting their claims, and has not shared their claimed [Adults Only] IARC certificate, which normally includes a link for the developer to appeal. They do not ‘love that studio’, they have effectively ghosted us."
The developer then pointed out that full playthroughs of Horses are posted on YouTube and Twitch without a problem, while it's also readily available to buy on multiple other storefronts, as proof that it "does not deserve an AO rating."
