Dishonored’s Harvey Smith launches new studio with former Arkane staff to make immersive sims
“We’re going to fall back on what we love, we’re going to work with the people we love”
A new studio founded by former Arkane developers has been announced.
Black Pony Immersive has been quietly running for a year, consists of 26 staff members, and is led by Arkane veterans Harvey Smith, Ricardo Bare and Ben Horne.
Smith, who has been in game development for more than 30 years, was the designer of critically accalimed immersive sim titles such as Deus Ex, Thief: Deadly Shadows and Area 51, as well as creative director of Dishonored and Dishonored 2.
Bare has 27 years of experience and previously worked at Ion Storm and Midway Games, before moving to Arkane where he worked for 15 years. Horne joined 2K and served as a producer on the NBA 2K series, before moving to Arkane where he became a production director.
In an interview with The Game Business, Horne explained that rather than chasing trends in the industry, the studio will focus on immersive sims because that’s what they’ve always cared about.
“The industry is growing in such a way that there are a large amount of players with a really varied appetite,” he said. “We don’t really know what turn the industry might take, and we’re probably not going to be very good at trend chasing.
“And so, our best shot is to rally around a creative vision that excites us as developers. It excites the audience that we know wants to play this kind-of game. That’s the best chance of making something great.”
Smith added: “Very well-paid people say things to me, going way back now, like ‘first-person games don’t sell’, or ‘RPGs are a niche market’, ‘if you’re not working on a free-to-play game now, in five years you’ll be out of a job’, ‘MMOs are the future’, ‘in the future, games will have live motion video sections with Hollywood actors in them’.
“I’ve heard smart, good people, friends of mine in executive positions, say these things over the years, and sometimes they’re right. But what Ben said, going back to what you love with a strong vision, that often comes through for us, so that’s what we have got to do.”
Harvey Smith’s former studio, Arkane Austin, was shut down by Microsoft in 2024, and its final game, the co-op shooter Redfall, was officially abandoned. Arkane Austin was reportedly pitching an immersive sim before its closure.
