The horses were controversial even before they were introduced to the market. While the exact circumstances are unclear, Steam banned the horror game from its store years before launch, seemingly due to content being removed from the final build. It did not review the game, meaning the ban remained in place.
On the eve of the release, the Epic Games Store followed and the game could not be purchased there either. This meant it was only available on GOG, Itch and Humble – the latter also temporarily removed the game. We now have an idea of how this has affected sales, and it's mixed.
The horses sold well enough to cover development costs, but this may be the studio's last game for a while
As reported by Eurogamer, Horses developer Santa Ragione says its controversial horror game has sold 18,000 copies. That translates to $65,000 in revenue, which the studio says is enough to pay off the debts incurred during the development of Horses.
However, this does not mean that the studio is in place to work on the next game. “If sales remain stable, we may be able to finance a new prototype in the future, but the team has had to and will take on other orders and projects in the meantime,” says the studio. “Unifying everyone will not be easy, although it is something we would like to do.”
It will be difficult to maintain steady sales when the horses can't benefit from being on what is by far the biggest disruptor in the PC gaming ecosystem. This eliminates many opportunities for players to come across it in the wild long after launch, although GOG might provide it for some.
Be that as it may, Horses showed how much power Steam has over PC gaming, as the developer feared they would close the door when this ban was maintained. It also serves as another example of Steam being overly cautious about the games it will host now, as they seemed reluctant to even re-evaluate a game after the offending material was removed.
- Released
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December 2, 2025
- ESRB
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M For Adults 17+ // Blood, crude humor, language, nudity, sexual content, violence
- Developers
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Andrea Lucco Borlera
- Publishers
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Santa Ragione
