Harvey Smith Forms Black Pony Immersive After Arkane Austin Closure

Veteran game designer Harvey Smith, one of the creative figures behind Deus Ex and Dishonored, has officially revealed Black Pony Immersive, a new independent studio built around the type of single player immersive sims that defined much of his career. Smith serves as CEO and Creative Director, while longtime Arkane Austin collaborator Ben Horne is COO and Executive Producer. The studio has actually been operating quietly since August 4, 2025, but only revealed itself publicly on August 19, 2026.

The Austin based developer currently has 26 employees and includes veterans from Arkane, Insomniac Games, Epic Games, Avalanche Studios and Volition. Ricardo Bare, another longtime Arkane developer who worked with Smith across several projects, is also part of the team. Black Pony says its goal is to create imaginative first person action RPGs built around narrative, detailed worlds and emergent systems that allow players to solve problems through their own decisions. The studio summarizes that philosophy through its official Black Pony Immersive website as a pursuit of "mystery, meaning, and creative play."

"At our new studio, we're building exactly the kind of single player games we're most passionate about."
— Quote by: Harvey Smith

Smith and Horne initially struggled to finance the company after Microsoft closed Arkane Austin in May 2024. They approached venture capital firms and institutional investors during what both described as an extremely difficult fundraising environment for conventional game development. Black Pony eventually secured an unnamed publishing partner, although Smith stressed that the studio has not simply received an enormous development budget and must continue reaching agreed development milestones to unlock additional funding.

The studio is deliberately remaining relatively small. Smith and Horne want a compact permanent development team with strong creative chemistry, using external development partners when additional production capacity is required instead of rapidly expanding permanent headcount. Smith argues that smaller teams at the beginning and end of production can preserve creative direction while reducing the financial vulnerability that has affected studios that expanded aggressively before additional funding disappeared.

That strategy also reflects lessons from Redfall, the final major project produced by Arkane Austin. Smith acknowledged that the studio became caught up in the games as a service trend and attempted to combine Arkane's traditional design philosophy with character classes, cooperative play and service elements. Development was then further complicated by COVID and significant employee turnover. After Microsoft announced Arkane Austin's closure, Smith said several developers were allowed to return temporarily to finish and release Redfall Update 1.4, even though they were no longer employed by the studio.

Black Pony is now intentionally moving in the opposite direction. Its first project is an unannounced narrative focused single player action RPG built around immersive simulation and emergent gameplay. Platforms, release timing, setting and the identity of its publishing partner have not been revealed. Smith and Horne have instead been clear about the design reference points, naming games such as Deus Ex and Dishonored when explaining what Black Pony wants to create.

Smith also rejects the argument that immersive sims are inherently commercially unviable. Speaking with GamesBeat, he revealed that the original Dishonored generated a return of approximately 4 to 5 times its total development spend, arguing that focused games can remain financially successful without chasing whatever business model currently dominates industry strategy.

The studio arrives during another turbulent period for Xbox development, with Microsoft continuing a broader Xbox restructuring affecting studios across its gaming organization. Arkane Austin itself was closed on May 7, 2024 alongside Tango Gameworks and Alpha Dog Games, although Tango was later acquired by Krafton. Black Pony effectively reunites part of the creative expertise that disappeared when Microsoft shut the Austin studio.

Black Pony Immersive feels less like Harvey Smith attempting to recreate Arkane Austin and more like an effort to preserve the philosophy that made its best games distinctive. A 26 person core team, controlled growth and an experienced group that already understands how to build interconnected systems could be a healthier foundation than immediately attempting another enormous AAA production.

The commercial question remains significant. Immersive sims require complex environments, overlapping mechanics and considerable testing while traditionally attracting smaller audiences than mainstream shooters or open world blockbusters. But Dishonored returning as much as 5 times its development investment shows that the genre does not necessarily need blockbuster sales when production costs remain disciplined.

After Redfall pushed Arkane into territory that Smith now admits was outside his natural strengths, Black Pony is making the opposite bet: build the game the team understands, keep the studio manageable and trust that there is still an audience for deep single player systems.

Would you rather see Black Pony create a spiritual successor to Dishonored or Deus Ex, or build an entirely new style of immersive sim?