Dishonored's Harvey Smith launches Black Pony Immersive with former Arkane veterans

Bethesda

Former Deus Ex and Dishonored veteran Harvey Smith has founded Black Pony Immersive, staffed largely by Arkane veterans, which is focused on developing immersive sims.

The details:

As discussed in The Game Business' latest interview, Black Pony Immersive was founded by Harvey Smith and Ben Horne and has been operating in secret since August 2025. The studio has 26 staff and is based in Austin, Texas with remote workers.
Ricardo Bare, who served as creative director on Prey, Dishonored 2, and Redfall, has joined as Design Director. Additional team members come from Insomniac, Epic, Avalanche, and Volition.
The studio's mission is to build "narrative-rich first-person action RPGs set within well-realized worlds," with emergent systems that give players freedom to solve problems their own way.
Smith previously led Arkane Austin, which Microsoft shut down in May 2024 as part of the Xbox restructuring that also closed Tango Gameworks. Black Pony marks his return to active game development.
No project has been announced yet. The studio's name contains the word "Immersive," which Smith appears to be leaning into rather than away from.

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