Horses Developer Reveals 30,000 Sales Still in the Red
The disclosure shows that even a 30,000-copy sales milestone does not guarantee profitability for a game excluded from major PC storefronts.
Reporting from 1 sources: Automaton.
Santa Ragione disclosed that despite selling 30,000 copies of HORSES, it has not recouped $42,000 of its $50,000 development cost. The game was banned from Steam and Epic Games Store before release. Revenue reached $100,000, but most went to the director and an investor, leaving only $8,000 for cost recovery.
Santa Ragione published a revenue breakdown for HORSES on June 16, six months after the game launched on GOG.com, itch.io, and Humble Store. The $100,000 in revenue was split three ways: director Andrea Lucco Borlera received $30,000 as compensation for years of work, an individual investor who put in $50,000 was paid $62,000 (principal plus $12,000 return), and the remaining $8,000 went to the studio to recover development costs. Since Santa Ragione self-funded $50,000, it still has $42,000 unrecovered. The game was rejected by Valve in November 2025 and later by Epic Games Store, which limited its distribution channels.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.