gaming

Ex‑Arkane founders' Black Pony Immersive will avoid trend‑chasing and focus on immersive sims

Harvey Smith and Ben Horne have launched Black Pony Immersive and say the studio will not chase industry trends, instead building games that match their creative vision and the audience for immersive sims. They point to lasting cultural impact and commercial success of titles like BioShock, Deus Ex and Dishonored as a model. Dishonored's budget was described as reasonable and produced roughly a 4–5× return on investment. The stance follows Arkane's recent move into a live‑service shooter with Redfall, which was poorly received, and signals a deliberate shift away from trend-driven development.

• Black Pony Immersive was founded by former Arkane developers Harvey Smith and Ben Horne.
• The studio's stated strategy is to avoid trend‑chasing and focus on projects that excite its developers and the existing immersive‑sim audience.
• Smith cites BioShock, Deus Ex and Dishonored as immersive sims with lasting cultural cachet and commercial viability.
• Dishonored operated on a 'reasonable' budget and returned about four to five times its total spend; Arkane's Redfall was a live‑service shooter that received poor reception.