Deus Ex and Dishonored veterans launch Black Pony Immersive studio
In a move that signals a defiant belief in single-player games, industry legends Harvey Smith and Ben Horne have announced the launch of Black Pony Immersive. The new studio, officially unveiled on August 19, 2026, aims to carve out a space for the detailed, choice-driven games known as immersive sims, a genre the founders helped define with titles like Deus Ex and Dishonored.
Based in Austin, Texas, the venture emerges from the ashes of Arkane Austin, the celebrated studio shuttered by Microsoft in 2024. Smith and Horne, both veterans of Arkane, are betting that their small, independent team can succeed where larger corporations have faltered, focusing on creative freedom over chasing market trends.
Black Pony Immersive and its defiant bet on the genre
Black Pony Immersive is planting its flag firmly in the soil of first-person action RPGs. The studio’s mission is to build “imaginative… worlds, where players create their own memorable experiences with expressive, emergent gameplay systems.” This is the very definition of an immersive sim, a genre that prizes player agency above all else, allowing for multiple solutions to any given problem.
For some publishers, the high development cost and niche audience of immersive sims represent a significant financial risk. Smith, who serves as CEO and Creative Director, pushes back against this narrative. He argues that the Dishonored games were financial successes, proving there is a dedicated and hungry market for these experiences.
He suggests that claims of a genre’s demise can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, and that chasing the latest trend, like the often-troubled live-service model, is a far riskier proposition. The industry has seen many games pivot to this model, sometimes requiring a major patch like the Valorant 13.04 update to course-correct.
As an independent entity, Black Pony Immersive operates without the crushing weight of publisher expectations that often burdens AAA studios. “We don’t have to seek much approval from anyone else, and that makes us very nimble,” Smith told GamesIndustry.biz. This agility allows the team to focus on its passion without the pressure to generate blockbuster revenue on the scale of a corporate behemoth like Microsoft.
Rising from the ashes of Arkane Austin
The story of Black Pony is inextricably linked to the recent, turbulent history of the games industry. Both Smith and Horne were key figures at Arkane Austin right up until its sudden closure on May 7, 2024. The shutdown, part of broader cuts at ZeniMax by parent company Microsoft, saw 96 developers lose their jobs and sent shockwaves through the development community.
That shared experience of adversity became a catalyst for something new. Smith described the current climate as “the worst time in history” to start a new studio, yet also the perfect impetus for a radical move.
“When things are going pretty well, your impetus to do something crazy is very low,” he explained, noting that the industry’s “explosion” created the conditions for a fresh start. “We’ve endured these enormous hardships together.”
While their final project at Arkane was the commercially disappointing Redfall, the team’s legacy is built on a foundation of genre-defining classics.
Smith was the lead designer on the original Deus Ex and co-creative director on Dishonored, while Horne served as production director on Redfall after more than eight years of collaboration with Smith.
This shared history and deep expertise in the genre they love forms the bedrock of their new venture, which they began building in secret back in August 2025.
Assembling an elite, remote-first team
Black Pony Immersive currently consists of 26 full-time employees, a curated team of veterans from some of the industry’s most respected studios. The roster includes talent from Arkane, Insomniac, Epic Games, Avalanche, and Volition. This remote-first structure allows the Austin-based studio to draw from a nationwide talent pool, prioritizing experience over geographic location.
Reuniting with Smith and Horne is Ricardo Bare, another key designer from the original Deus Ex and a longtime collaborator. The presence of such a cohesive core of developers, all steeped in the principles of immersive simulation, gives the studio a significant advantage.
They share a common design language and a deep understanding of how to build the complex, interlocking systems that make these games special.
These systems are a hallmark of the genre, creating a world that feels reactive and alive. Players expect to be able to manipulate the environment and its inhabitants in predictable, yet creative ways.
This often requires developers to build smarter AI systems that can respond dynamically to a huge range of player actions, a significant technical and design challenge that this veteran team is uniquely equipped to handle.
Navigating a perilous industry landscape
Launching a studio in the current economic climate is not for the faint of heart. Smith and Horne have been open about the “horrible environment for fundraising” they faced. The path to establishing Black Pony was paved with difficult decisions, including turning down potential deals that involved “NFT blockchain situation[s].”
This refusal highlights a commitment to building the studio “the right way,” focusing on game quality and player experience rather than speculative financial trends.
This principled stance offers a glimmer of hope in an industry that has seen many independent studios launch with grand ambitions only to falter. The combination of a seasoned, proven team and a clear-eyed, humble approach sets Black Pony apart.
They aren’t promising to reinvent the wheel, but to perfect a craft they have spent decades honing, learning from both their immense successes and their mistakes.
The pressure to create a mega-hit can be immense, with some games achieving a cultural footprint so large that the US Army uses them for recruitment. Black Pony’s independent nature frees them from chasing that level of market saturation, allowing them to focus on a dedicated audience that appreciates the depth and complexity their games offer.
The road ahead and the future of a genre
As of the announcement, details about Black Pony Immersive’s first project remain under wraps. All that is known is that it will be a single-player immersive sim, a promise that is more than enough to excite fans of the team’s previous work. The studio is focused on the work itself, letting their pedigree speak for them while they quietly build the future of the genre.
The announcement arrived at a poignant moment for the immersive sim community. Just one day prior, on August 18, 2026, genre pioneer Warren Spector, famed for his work on Deus Ex and System Shock, announced his retirement after 44 years.
As one founding father steps away, another group of his most accomplished disciples steps forward to carry the torch. It feels like a pivotal transition for a style of game that has profoundly influenced modern game design.
Fans can only speculate what a new title from the minds behind Dishonored, Prey, and Deus Ex might look like in 2026 and beyond. Will it have the supernatural stealth action of Dishonored? The sprawling, systems-heavy sci-fi of Prey? Or the cyberpunk conspiracy and player choice of Deus Ex?
The answer is likely a fusion of all of the above, refined by decades of experience.
Ultimately, the launch of Black Pony Immersive is more than just another new studio. It’s a statement of intent. It’s a declaration that even in the face of industry consolidation and risk aversion, there is still a place for focused, creative, and unapologetically deep single-player games. For fans of emergent gameplay and player-driven stories, this is a development worth watching very closely.