Overview
- Smith and co-founder Ben Horne publicly revealed Black Pony Immersive on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, after operating privately since August 2025.
- The studio has about 26 full‑time U.S.-based staff and reunites veterans from Arkane along with hires from Insomniac, Epic, Avalanche and Volition.
- Black Pony says it is developing an unannounced single‑player, narrative‑rich first‑person game that emphasizes player choice, exploration and emergent systems.
- Founders say fundraising was difficult and they turned down deals that conflicted with their goals, including blockchain/NFT propositions, to preserve creative independence.
- The move frames an attempt to carry the immersive‑sim legacy of titles like Deus Ex and Dishonored forward and could test whether small, veteran‑led teams can sustain that genre under a focused publishing deal.