Valve has permanently rejected indie horror game Horses from Steam after determining it violated the platform’s policy against depicting sexual conduct involving a minor. The decision has put the small development studio at what it describes as high risk of closure.
The game centers on a ranch where humans are dehumanized and used as livestock. Players encounter “horse-people” who are kept naked, masked, and controlled like animals in an exploration of power dynamics and religious extremism.
The rejection stems from an early build submitted to Valve in 2023. Unlike typical Steam submissions, Valve required the developers to provide a playable build before approving their store page due to concerns raised by the game’s promotional materials.
After playing through the build, Valve informed the studio it would not distribute the game. Valve stated that “regardless of a developer’s intentions with their product, we will not distribute content that appears, in our judgment, to depict sexual conduct involving a minor.”
The developers believe the rejection was triggered by a specific scene. In it, a young girl asks to ride one of the “horses” at the ranch. The player then leads a naked, masked adult woman by a rope while the child sits on her shoulders for a pony ride.
The studio emphasizes the scene was meant as disturbing horror, not erotic content. The “horse-people” in the game are portrayed as victims of systematic dehumanization, and the developers say the intent was to create discomfort about power and exploitation.
After receiving Valve’s feedback, the developers rewrote the scene. The child character was replaced with a woman in her twenties, and all characters in the game are now explicitly older than 20 through dialogue and design.
Steam rejected these changes. Valve’s policy prohibits reconsidering games once they’ve been denied for content related to minors. The company has stated it does not want developers making incremental tweaks to bypass content rules.
This approach leaves the studio in a difficult position. Steam dominates PC game distribution, and losing access to the platform significantly reduces projected sales for any indie title.
The developers say they can support the game for roughly six months after launch before running out of funds. They’ve warned that without Steam’s reach, the studio may shut down.
Other platforms have agreed to carry the game. Epic Games Store approved it with a request to adjust store page imagery. GOG has also greenlit the title. Console versions are reportedly still planned.
When intent doesn’t matter
Valve’s policy explicitly states that developer intent is not a factor in content decisions. The company reviews what content “appears” to depict rather than the narrative purpose behind it.
This puts horror games in a precarious position. The genre often uses taboo imagery to provoke discomfort and critique social structures. But platforms draw hard lines around certain content regardless of artistic context, particularly anything involving minors and nudity in the same frame.
