Former Arkane Studios creative director Harvey Smith has partnered with fellow industry veterans to launch Black Pony Immersive, a new game development studio focused on single-player immersive simulators.
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, the team includes former Arkane developers Ben Horne and Ricardo Bare, alongside developers with previous experience at Insomniac Games, Epic Games, Avalanche Studios, and Volition. Black Pony Immersive aims to construct first-person action RPGs defined by detailed world-building and expressive, emergent design systems.
The studio's establishment comes amid a period of instability for the genre's legacy developers, following Microsoft's closure of Arkane Austin—the studio responsible for 2017's Prey and Redfall—and ongoing negotiations regarding the future of Arkane Lyon.
Addressing the state of the industry, Smith stated that the new venture represents a commitment to single-player titles that reward player exploration and creative problem-solving. While Black Pony Immersive has not yet announced its debut game, the developers confirmed that project details will be shared in the future.
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