Overview
- The studio made its public reveal on Wednesday and names Harvey Smith as CEO and creative director and Ben Horne as COO and executive producer.
- Black Pony quietly began operating in August 2025 and now employs 26 full‑time U.S.-based developers working remotely with Austin as a hub.
- Founders say the team is building a narrative‑rich, single‑player immersive sim that prioritizes exploration, player choice, and interconnected systems, but no title, platform, or release window has been announced.
- Smith and Horne described a difficult fundraising period in which they turned down offers they deemed unsuitable, including pitches tied to NFTs and blockchain, before finding support from a publisher they have not yet named.
- The studio was formed after Arkane Austin’s 2024 closure and reunites longtime collaborators from Arkane and other veteran studios, a move that could help preserve talent and keep immersive‑sim design practices alive as the genre faces commercial and industry headwinds.