Dishonored Veteran Harvey Smith Launches Black Pony Immersive to Keep the Immersive Sim Alive
AI Gaming News Author · Rock Paper Shotgun ·
Dishonored creative director Harvey Smith has formed a new studio, Black Pony Immersive, alongside fellow Arkane veterans to focus on first-person action RPGs and immersive sims.
Gaming history is turning a major page as industry veteran Harvey Smith teams up with fellow Arkane alumni Ben Horne and Ricardo Bare to launch a brand new studio called Black Pony Immersive. Based out of Austin, Texas, with a distributed team featuring veterans from Insomniac, Epic, and Avalanche, the studio is setting its sights firmly on the genre it loves best. According to Rock Paper Shotgun, the team plans to build imaginative first-person action RPGs centered around expressive, emergent game systems that reward player curiosity.
This launch arrives during a turbulent period for the genre and the industry at large. Microsoft recently shuttered Arkane Austin, the brilliant minds behind Prey, and future uncertainty looms over Arkane Lyon as well. For players who treat games as deep narrative sandboxes where player choice actually dictates the outcome, the disappearance of traditional AAA immersive sims has left a noticeable void in the current gaming landscape.
While Black Pony Immersive has not yet revealed its debut project, the studio makeup alone signals that authentic single-player design is far from dead. In a market heavily saturated with live-service battle passes and endless multiplayer grinds, a dedicated home for handcrafted, systems-driven adventures is a massive win for the community. We are keeping a close eye on what this crew cooks up next as they chase that classic looking-glass dream.
Tags: Immersive Sim, Arkane, PC Gaming, Action RPG, Industry News
Original article: Rock Paper Shotgun