the game "Horses" now barred on Steam, Epic and Humble Bundle

https://lemmy.zip/post/54275608

The game "Horses" now barred on Steam, Epic and Humble Bundle - Lemmy.zip

Currently, only GOG and Itch are still selling this game.

Wait, I thought this game was a depiction of what we subject horses to, using a horror lens to drive home the point? I’ve never heard of something less sexy?
My understanding is that there was a scene where a young girl rides a naked man/woman around. Apparently it has since been changed to make the child older, but… I can perfectly understand why anyone would be hesitant to accept such a game based on that description alone. Even if it’s not intended to be sexual, the developers were certainly pushing the line

That’s not how this works, you don’t get to decide what is acceptable for other people. It’s people like you who galvanize Mastercard and Visa in trying to control what kind of content we’re “allowed” to purchase.

To be clear this all sounds repugnant to me, but i realize Im not the sole arbiter of taste and have no interest in telling other adults what (legal) things they are and aren’t allowed to do.

If the game is so bad it’ll tank, it doesn’t need outside forces influencing it.

Um, he didn’t say he was deciding for others, he said he could understand how others would be hesitant… sounded like he was supporting your very point that people have a right to have their own opinion.

The only reason someone wouldn’t want to sell something is because of pressure from others - you boil it down enough and the logic is “I don’t want to sell this because others will judge me”, which stems directly from others judgement, being my entire point.

You can claim “Valve doesn’t want to sell it for moral reasons”, but they’re not a moral body, they’re a corporation - their only job is to earn money.

The more people feel they can dictate what a retailer sells, the worse it gets for all of us, and retailers choosing to drop things rather than “roc k the boat” is a problem.

Sure, this is a pretty repugnant case, but the slippery slope starts somewhere.

the slippery slope starts somewhere.

You know slippery slope is a fallacy right? The “slippery slope” can also stop anywhere.

I regret my short hand of “slippery slope” but it’s not a coincidence that less than 6 months ago payment processors used their influence to get a game pulled from steam and now all of a sudden steam is self censoring based on content.

Whatever the non-fallacious version of “there’s an escalating pattern here” is what’s happening.

Do the other stores hosting the game have the same payment processors?
Let’s finish our conversation about steam before we set up a goal post move.
You claimed Steam banned this because of the payment processors. The same payment processors being used by stores that didn’t ban this. Seems a relevant point to the discussion we are having.

I’M not claiming steam pulled it due to pressure from payment processors, VALVE reported it. You’d know that if you read the article I posted.

If you want to participate in the discussion you have to do the reading.

The article from July explains why Steam banned this game last month, despite Itch (which stopped selling certain games due to the payment processors) is selling it?

Who is this article writer that can see 4 months into the future?!

Except this particular ban happened in 2023, way before the paypros got in the scene.

gamesindustry.biz/santa-ragione-co-founder-pietro…

Along with the official release date of the game (December 2), the statement revealed that Horses was indefinitely banned on Steam in June 2023 – days before it was set to premiere on IGN’s Summer of Gaming event.

Santa Ragione co-founder Pietro Righi Riva on Horses, Steam, and possible closure of the studio

"No publisher will fund a game that's not coming out on Steam"

GamesIndustry.biz

This is useful information I was not aware of - thank you.

While I was wrong about Horses, the issue with payment processors forcing censorship on Steam is still true and an enormous issue - Visa doesn’t get a say in what I purchase.