Harvey Smith's Black Pony Immersive runs on milestone-gated tranches from one publisher and 26 distributed U.S. staff
Summary
Harvey Smith and Ben Horne revealed Black Pony Immersive in August 2026, a year after quietly opening with 26 U.S.-based staff
Capital flows as milestone-gated tranches from one undisclosed publishing partner - no VC, no upfront lump sum
Scope is locked pre-incorporation to single-player, narrative-rich, first-person action RPGs - no live-service mechanics
"We're not in the situation where someone just handed us a giant trunk of money. The company has to hit its deadlines along the way to get the next tranche of money."
01
Milestone-gated tranches replace the upfront raise
Two years of fundraising preceded the August 2025 launch, with VC, institutional, and at least one NFT/blockchain offer rejected
Capital arrives in tranches from one undisclosed publishing partner, released on production milestones
Smith names the failure mode: peers took large early tranches, expanded fast, hit no follow-on, became overextended
Every additional outside investor adds a board opinion and complicates the next raise, per Smith
02
Genre locked before incorporation to prevent scope creep
The pitch existed before the company - creative parameters were fixed before capital negotiations began
Hard constraint: single-player, narrative-rich, first-person action RPGs - no live-service, no classes, no day/night systems
Smith attributes Redfall's failure to mixing immersive sim DNA with GaaS mechanics the team was not built to execute
"I was clearly out of my lane. I was not working on the things that I should be working on."
03
Distributed U.S. hiring reframed as a talent-acquisition edge
All 26 full-time staff are U.S.-based across Austin, New York, Seattle, Portland, California, and North Carolina
Horne frames distribution as competitive advantage: hiring follows people, not geography
Cohesion runs through budgeted in-person summits twice a year, not full remote isolation
Core team is pre-bonded: Ricardo Bare (Deus Ex-era), Monte Martinez (Ion Storm, 2K Marin, WolfEye), plus indie hires
04
Redfall is the failure mode every structural choice defends against
Redfall entered development during the live-service boom and retrofitted GaaS mechanics onto an immersive sim base
COVID disruptions and the great resignation compounded instability in a studio already outside its core competency
Post-closure, Smith got Microsoft's approval for six or seven ex-staff to return and ship patch 1.4
"When we've stayed in that lane, the results have been much better, and we get much closer to something that we truly love."
05
* What this means
For Publishers & Developers: Milestone-gated single-partner deals are the preferred capital structure for senior post-layoff teams - position early on cap tables.
For Investors & VC: This veteran cohort will walk from misaligned terms and requires publisher-style patience, not standard VC tranching.
For Service Vendors: Distributed 26-person studios with U.S. staff and global contractor pools are the new BD target, not HQ-centric shops.
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SYNTHESIZED FROM:
- "We chose the worst time in history" – Harvey Smith on starting his own studio after Arkane | GamesIndustry.biz
- Redfall Bosses Explain What Happened With The Failed Xbox Exclusive - GameSpot
- Game devs Harvey Smith and Ben Horne unveil Black Pony Immersive to craft action RPGs | interview - GamesBeat
- Harvey Smith and fellow Arkane Austin veterans announce a new studio, Black Pony Immersive
COMPILED BY GAMES ATLAS EDITORIAL
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