The immersive sim genre has been a story of survival on the brink in recent years. The industry is increasingly writing them off: the format is outdated, audiences have migrated to open worlds and multiplayer, and developing such games is inherently unprofitable. Harvey Smith, the creator of Deus Ex and creative director of Dishonored, has heard this before. And every time, his response is the same: action.
Along with his former Arkane colleagues, he founded the independent studio Black Pony Immersive. It formally existed since August 4, 2025, but was only officially announced now. It has a staff of 26, including Prey lead game designer Ricardo Bare and producer Ben Horn. The team has been working on a new project for over a year—a deep, single-player immersive sim in the spirit of the original Deus Ex and Dishonored.
Smith himself calls the timing of the studio’s launch “the worst in history.” The funding market is tough, investors are cautious, and major publishers are scaling back their experiments. But Smith, who has worked in the industry for over 30 years, is used to the odds stacked against him. “Very smart, well-paid people told me for years that first-person games don’t sell, that RPGs are a niche genre, and MMOs are the future,” he recalls. “Sometimes they were right. But returning to what you love, with a clear vision—that often works.”
The genre can indeed be profitable—if you don’t force it into the confines of a AAA blockbuster. Smith cited a telling example: the budget for the first Dishonored was “reasonable,” and the game recouped its costs four to five times over. The problem isn’t the genre, but the inflated expectations of publishers, who demand Call of Duty-level sales from immersive sims.
The story of Redfall, the vampire action game that became Arkane Austin’s final project and flopped at launch, deserves special attention. After a wave of layoffs at its parent company, Smith and six colleagues specifically asked Microsoft management for time to complete the final patch. They stayed to fix critical bugs—and, according to Smith, they did. “If the game had been in such a stable state at release, its reception would have been radically different,” he believes. This is indirect evidence that even a failed project can be brought to fruition if given the team the opportunity.
Black Pony Immersive’s structure is a conscious rejection of the “giant studio” model. There will be no staff of hundreds. The core team will remain small, and production capacity will be distributed among third-party partners. Smith calls this the “Hollywood approach”: external teams are given clear objectives and work in sync with the core team. Given that Black Pony’s developers are scattered across the United States, this model isn’t typically cost-effective, but the only viable one.
Bottom line: a quality immersive sim is a rarity these days. Most studios are chasing open worlds, endless Soulslike clones, or multiplayer hack-and-slash experiences. Black Pony Immersive’s new leads inspire cautious optimism. Genre veterans aren’t giving up—and if anyone can resurrect the immersive sim, it’s the team that created Dishonored.
Smith himself answered the question of whether he feels a responsibility to carry the torch of the genre: “Always. Until I die.” Well, we’ll see.
