Veteran game developer Harvey Smith (known for the Dishonored series, original Deus Ex series)has opened a new game development studio, Black Pony Immersive.
With the fate of Arkane Studios all but guaranteed (effectively putting the Dishonored franchise on ice), franchise co-creator Harvey Smith has decided to branch out and make his own studio, geared towards bringing more experiences to audiences. Smith, the former director of the Dishonored series, has founded a new studio focused on games that sound like Dishonored, and it’s called Black Pony Immersive. Black Pony Immersive will focus on the “immersive sim” genre that Smith helped push into the mainstream through his work as co-creative director on Dishonored, Dishonored 2, and lead game designer on the original Deus Ex. His work is cut out for him.
While speaking to IGN, Smith says, “My favorite gaming memories come from seeing players approach challenges with creativity, deep-diving into our world building,” adding, “We try to reward players for their curiosity and exploration. At our new studio, we’re building exactly the kind of single-player games we’re most passionate about,” which sounds a whole lot like the genre Dishonored embodies, so Black Pony Immersive will be developing games that fall into the same category.
Smith continues with, “The entire industry is deeply hurting right now, Austin included. I am just thrilled to be announcing Black Pony Immersive. Making another run at trying to create magic for players. Having the team we have, including Ricardo and people we worked with on Deus Ex, Dishonored, and Prey just feels like a dream. We are on fire for single-player, narrative-driven, first-person (highly hyphenated) immersive sims.”
Smith finally says he will carry the torch for the immersive sim genre ‘until he is dead.’ Two parts of the team include Smith’s frequent creative collaborator, Ricardo Bare, from the Prey and Deus Ex teams, and co-studio founder Ben Horne. Harvey Smith and Ben Horne have worked together for seven years now, and co-founding Black Pony Immersive will make it eight.
While no debut project has been announced yet for Black Pony Immersive, fans can rest assured that it will undoubtedly be similar to Dishonored.
