Harvey Smith, whose career spans the original Deus Ex, Dishonored, Dishonored 2 and Prey, has opened a new studio. Black Pony Immersive is co-founded with former Arkane Austin colleague Ben Horne, and it will focus on the immersive sim genre Smith helped shape.
Microsoft's closure of Arkane Austin in May 2024 put 96 developers out of work, Smith among them. After a roughly two-year quiet period, the studio is public: it opened its doors last August and has a headcount of 26.
Ben and I chose the worst time in history [to start a game studio]. Because, you know, what else are you going to do?
Horne, who was production director on Redfall, described a grim fundraising environment to GamesIndustry.biz. “We turned down some deals that just didn't feel right,” he said. “You know, 'hey, if you guys are willing to maybe think about this NFT blockchain situation...' As much [as we wanted] to get this off the ground, let's try to do it the right way.”
Smith has held director roles at Arkane and Midway but has never run his own company before. Asked why now, he said the impetus only arrives after a collapse: “It's only when things explode that [you become willing to take the leap]. Like, you know what? We could do it better than that.”
Part of “doing it better” is structural. Smith cited minimal top-down interference — “We don't have to seek much approval from anyone else, and that makes us very nimble” — and health-care benefits even at startup scale, “because this is the United States, where that's not a given.” Black Pony's staff work remotely, and Horne clarified that all full-time employees are US-based, supported by contractors and external developers worldwide.
The bigger motive is keeping a team intact. “I don't think the people closing the studios understand yet what they've lost,” Smith said. The roster reunites Arkane veterans including Ricardo Bare, Smith's creative partner since they worked together as designers on Deus Ex, and Monte Martinez, formerly of Ion Storm, 2K Marin and WolfEye, whom Smith calls “the secret weapon of the immersive-sim world.” Not everyone is an alumnus — Smith says the art director, still unnamed, comes from the indie scene. Horne himself went to Meta-owned Twisted Pixel after Arkane's closure, working on Marvel's Deadpool VR, and left in August 2025.
The first project is under wraps beyond the fact that “we had the pitch before we had the company.” The genre is not in doubt.
You're slightly underpowered, but you have some creative tools. You have an exploration-based landscape, player-driven pace. Single-player, narrative-rich… Whether you call that an action RPG or FPS-RPG hybrid or an immersive sim, whatever.
Smith told IGN the studio is “building exactly the kind of single-player games we're most passionate about,” adding that his favourite gaming memories “come from seeing players approach challenges with creativity, deep-diving into our world building.” Asked whether he feels a responsibility to carry the torch for the genre, he answered: “Always. Until I am dead.” The team has promised to reveal more about its first project soon.