Harvey Smith, co-creator of the Dishonored series, and Ben Horne, a veteran from Arkane Austin, have established a new studio named Black Pony Immersive. The studio's foundational principle is to avoid the pursuit of fleeting industry trends, a strategy they believe is crucial for creating lasting and successful games.
In an interview with The Game Business, Smith and Horne addressed the perception of the immersive sim genre. Smith pointed to titles like BioShock, Deus Ex, and Dishonored as examples of games that continue to resonate with players and achieve significant financial success years after their release. He noted that the development budgets for such games, while substantial, were often more manageable than current industry standards, allowing for a strong return on investment. For instance, Dishonored reportedly yielded a return of four to five times its total spend.
Horne emphasized that Black Pony Immersive's core mission is to move away from trend chasing, a practice he admitted Arkane itself struggled with. Instead, the studio will focus on developing projects that excite its developers and appeal to a known audience seeking specific types of gameplay experiences. "Our best shot is to rally around a creative vision that excites us as developers. It excites the audience that we know wants to play this kind-of game. That's the best chance of making something great," Horne stated.
Smith echoed this sentiment, recalling past executive pronouncements that proved inaccurate, such as claims that first-person games or RPGs were not commercially viable. He highlighted how many of these predictions, including the necessity of free-to-play models or live service components, have not materialized as expected. "I've heard smart, good people," Smith said, "friends of mine in executive positions, say these things over the years, and sometimes they're right. But what Ben said, going back to what you love with a strong vision, that often comes through for us, so that's what we have got to do."
This approach suggests a deliberate move away from the type of live service shooter Arkane Austin was working on prior to its closure, signaling a return to the design philosophies that defined the studio's earlier successes.