For many years, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces in the video‑game development world, accounting for roughly 70 % of all titles released on Steam in 2025. While open‑source alternatives such as Godot have made notable strides, the market still feels locked into a duopoly, with a handful of large studios opting for proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example. Against this backdrop, three industry veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—have decided that there is still room for a fresh, more adaptable engine.
Their startup, Immens, aims to combine the power of modern AI with a flexible architecture to give small teams a viable alternative to the status‑quo. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a new platform. "A few years ago the technology simply wasn’t there," he said.
"Now, with AI‑assisted programming, we can start building from the ground up again, under tight guidance, and still achieve full functionality quickly." The founders’ résumés read like a who’s‑who of the gaming world: experience at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple. This collective expertise fuels their belief that a different approach is possible. Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, is careful to distinguish his vision of AI from the hype that often surrounds the term.
He emphasizes that Immens does not rely on prompting a model to conjure assets out of thin air. Instead, the AI is woven into the engine’s very codebase to make it highly extensible. "If we design the underlying architecture with AI in mind, even a solo developer can add a custom particle system or a bespoke physics routine without wrestling with opaque scripting layers," he explained. The goal is to let creators extend the engine rapidly, using AI as a reasoning engine that understands the code and suggests or implements changes safely.
The motivation behind this ambitious project is the increasingly harsh economic reality of game development. Brussee described the current climate as "rough" and warned that production budgets are spiralling.
"Games are getting more expensive, and it’s becoming harder for small studios to survive. We need new workflows that lower costs, speed up iteration, and let creators deliver with fewer people and less risk," he said. De Jong, the chief product officer, added that the industry has entered a phase of "standardisation and consolidation" that, while providing a solid foundation, also stifles innovation. "Continuing to do things exactly as we have in the past won’t cut it.
We need a different way—real innovation, not just more of the same," he asserted. One of the biggest criticisms of existing engines is their monolithic nature. Developers are forced to adapt to proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines.
De Jong envisions an engine that bends to the developer’s needs, not the other way around. "Flexibility is key. You should be able to swap components, append new tools, and tailor the interface to match your workflow.
If I need a shortcut for a specific animation rig, I can build it directly into the engine," he said. This level of customisation, powered by AI, could dramatically reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks.
Valient also warned that AI, while powerful, can misbehave if left unchecked. Immens therefore puts the user in full control of the AI’s actions, providing a transparent history of changes and the ability to roll back or fine‑tune the output.
"Imagine needing to generate five characters with a particular trait. In the past that could take weeks; with the right AI‑assisted tool you could prototype them over coffee and then discard the tool once the job is done.
That level of efficiency was previously unaffordable," he noted. Immens’s architecture deliberately avoids imposing a single workflow. De Jong stressed that the framework is modular, allowing developers to decide how much AI to incorporate and where. "The engine should be a canvas, not a script," he said.
To ensure seamless collaboration with existing tools, Immens adopts open standards and text‑based file formats. Brussee highlighted that "when files are text‑based, any program can read them, and the AI can manipulate them directly," enabling smooth integration with Blender, Maya, or other generative pipelines. The broader conversation about AI in games is fraught with hype and fear. Some commentators on LinkedIn claim that AI will let anyone generate a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience with a single prompt.
The Immens team acknowledges that "click‑to‑game" engines may eventually appear, but they treat AI as a complementary tool rather than a replacement for creativity. "AI will make every developer better, not replace them," Valient argued, noting the technology’s disruptive reputation.
Economic concerns also loom large. Critics warn that the AI‑focused segment could be a bubble, inflated by lofty valuations. Valient responded that while bubbles burst, the underlying technology usually survives—citing the dot‑com era as an example.
"AI isn’t going away. The internet didn’t vanish after the bubble, and the same will happen here. Good products and solid engineering will endure," he said. Funding for Immens remains modest at this stage.
The founders have secured "first commitments" but have not disclosed the amount, describing it as "reasonable." Brussee cautioned against over‑funding, noting that excess capital can breed complacency. The company deliberately stays lean—just the three founders and a handful of helpers—because a smaller, focused team can move faster and make clearer technical decisions. Immens is currently building a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow, slated for release later this month.
The timeline has already outpaced their original schedule; what was expected to take until the end of the year is now on track for a mid‑year launch. Regarding the business model, Brussee expressed admiration for Epic’s revenue‑share approach but admitted that it is still too early to formalise a pricing strategy. Ultimately, the team hopes that Immens will empower creators to push the artistic and technical boundaries of the medium. "We love games and want to see more risk‑taking, more creativity, more complex expression," Brussee concluded.
"If our engine can help bring those bold ideas to life, that would be amazing."