For years, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces in game development, responsible for roughly 70% of the titles that appeared on Steam in 2025. While Godot has enjoyed a surge in popularity and large studios continue to rely on proprietary solutions such as Capcom’s RE Engine, the market has largely been a duopoly. Into this landscape step three seasoned veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—who have founded Immersive (Immens) with the conviction that a fresh engine can still find a foothold, and that it can be built with modern AI techniques to address the industry’s chronic cost and time overruns. All three founders bring a résumé that reads like a who’s‑who of the gaming world.
Brussee and De Jong have spent time at Epic Games, the creators of Unreal, while Valient’s background includes stints at Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple. Their combined experience gives them a unique perspective on why the status quo feels increasingly restrictive for smaller teams. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee argued that “the opportunity now is to build an engine that simply didn’t exist a couple of years ago.” He believes AI‑assisted programming can restore the ability to start projects from a clean slate, providing rapid, full‑featured prototypes without the massive overhead that currently plagues development pipelines.
Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, stresses that the AI they employ is not the “prompt‑to‑image” hype that dominates headlines. Instead, the AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make the codebase highly extensible. “If we design the code base with AI in mind, even a solo developer can add a custom particle system or a bespoke gameplay mechanic without wrestling with opaque scripting layers,” he explains. The goal is to let creators focus on their vision while the engine’s intelligent components handle repetitive, boilerplate tasks, thereby accelerating iteration cycles.
The motivation behind Immens is rooted in the harsh economic realities of today’s game market. Brussee describes the current climate as “rough,” noting that development budgets continue to balloon while the odds of commercial success shrink.
“We need new ways of working that lower costs, shrink team sizes, and speed up delivery,” he says. De Jong adds that the engine space has become overly standardized and consolidated, offering a solid foundation but lacking the innovation required to solve emerging challenges.
He calls for a shift from monolithic, one‑size‑fits‑all engines toward flexible tools that adapt to a developer’s workflow. According to De Jong, many existing engines force developers to conform to proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines. By contrast, Immens aims to be a modular platform where users can swap, append, or rewrite components at will. “I can build a toolset that matches exactly my background, my shortcuts, my interface preferences, and the needs of my team,” he says.
This level of customisation, powered by AI that can reason about large codebases, is intended to democratise engine modification beyond simple scripting. Valient acknowledges that AI is powerful but also volatile. “If you don’t keep an eye on it, it can go off the rails quickly,” he warns. To mitigate this, Immens is being built with transparency at its core: developers will always see what the engine is doing, retain a full history of changes, and be able to reproduce results reliably.
This auditability, combined with the ability to generate disposable tools for specific tasks—such as mass‑producing characters with particular traits—could dramatically reduce the time and money traditionally spent on such chores. Flexibility is a recurring theme.
De Jong stresses that Immens does not impose a single workflow; instead, the architecture is deliberately open, letting users decide how much AI assistance they want and where to apply it. The engine also embraces open standards, meaning that text‑based assets can be read and manipulated by any compatible software. Brussee points out that this openness enables seamless integration with tools like Blender, Maya, or other generative pipelines, eliminating the “weird outlier” problem where proprietary engines act as closed ecosystems.
The conversation around AI in game development is polarized. Some commentators on LinkedIn sensationalise the idea that a simple prompt could spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience, fueling fears of a “click‑to‑game” future. Immens’s team, however, views AI as a powerful assistant rather than a replacement for human creativity. Valient believes AI will make developers better, not obsolete, while De Jong stresses responsible use: “Any tool can be misused; it’s our duty to steer it toward constructive ends.” Economic concerns also loom large.
Critics warn that AI‑centric startups may be riding a bubble, with inflated valuations and uncertain long‑term viability. Valient counters that technology cycles are inevitable: “The dot‑com bubble didn’t kill the internet; it filtered out the weak players. Good products survive.” He sees Immens not as a speculative venture but as a solid engine whose AI‑enhanced workflow simply makes it faster and more ambitious. Funding remains modest.
Immens has secured its first round of commitments but has not disclosed amounts, describing the capital sought as “reasonable.” Brussee cautions against excessive cash, noting that too much money can breed complacency and erode the scrappy mindset essential for early‑stage innovation. The company currently consists of the three founders plus a handful of helpers, deliberately staying lean to maintain agility. Development is progressing quickly. The team aims to deliver a proof‑of‑concept demo this month that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing flow.
Brussee reveals that the timeline has already been halved compared to their original estimate, underscoring the very speed gains they promise to users. As for the business model, Immens is still exploring options.
While they admire Epic’s “we succeed when you succeed” licensing philosophy, they admit it’s too early to commit to a specific approach. Ultimately, the founders hope their engine will empower creators to push artistic boundaries, take risks, and inject fresh innovation into the gaming landscape.
“We love games and want to see more creativity and risk‑taking,” Brussee concludes. “If our technology can help make that happen, that would be amazing.”