For many years, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces in game development, together accounting for roughly 70% of all titles released on Steam in 2025. While Godot has made notable strides recently and large studios still lean on proprietary solutions such as Capcom’s RE Engine, the market has largely been a duopoly. Against this backdrop, three seasoned industry veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—have founded Immens with the conviction that there is still space for a fresh engine that addresses the shortcomings of the current landscape. The trio’s résumés read like a who's‑who of modern game tech.
Brussee helped build the original Quake engine and later co‑founded Guerrilla Games; De Jong spent years at Epic Games, contributing to Unreal’s evolution; Valient’s experience spans Apple’s AR initiatives and work on cutting‑edge rendering pipelines. Their combined expertise gives them a unique perspective on why the status quo may be overdue for disruption. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee argued that “the moment is right” for a new engine that simply didn’t exist a few years ago. He believes AI‑assisted programming can revive the era when developers could start projects from a clean slate, rather than being forced to fit their ideas into the constraints of existing tools.
“With the right guidance and control, you can build something that delivers full functionality quickly,” he said. Valient, Immens’ chief technology officer, clarified that the AI they employ is not the kind of generative prompt‑to‑image wizardry that dominates headlines. Instead, their AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make the codebase highly extensible. "AI can reason about large amounts of data and source code,” he explained.
“If we design the engine with that capability in mind, even a solo developer can extend it beyond simple scripting. Want a custom particle system? You can plug it in directly.
The AI helps you do that faster and more reliably." The motivation behind Immens is also deeply tied to the current economic pressures facing developers. Brussee described the market as “rough,” noting that production costs keep climbing and many studios struggle to stay afloat. “We need new ways of working that lower risk, reduce budgets, and let smaller teams deliver high‑quality games faster,” he said.
De Jong echoed this sentiment, pointing out that the engine space has become overly standardized and consolidated. While that stability has provided a solid foundation, the industry now needs genuine innovation rather than incremental updates.
One of the core criticisms De Jong has of existing engines is their monolithic nature. Developers often have to adapt to proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines, which can stifle creativity. By contrast, Immens aims to be a chameleon‑like platform that molds itself to the user’s workflow. “Flexibility is key,” he said.
“You should be able to swap components, append new modules, or build bespoke tools that match your personal shortcuts, UI preferences, and project‑specific needs.” Valient acknowledges that AI is a double‑edged sword. While it offers tremendous power, it can also produce unpredictable results if left unchecked. To mitigate this, Immens is built to keep the user in the driver’s seat. “You always know what the engine is doing, you can trace its history, and you can reproduce results reliably,” he noted.
This transparency enables developers to create disposable, highly specialized tools—for example, generating five uniquely‑behaved characters in the time it used to take weeks—without sacrificing control. Immens’ architecture deliberately avoids imposing a single workflow. De Jong emphasized that the framework is purposefully agnostic: “It’s up to you how much AI you want to incorporate and where you apply it.” The team also stresses the importance of open standards.
By using text‑based file formats, the engine can interoperate with popular tools like Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI pipeline. “When everything speaks a common language, you can plug in any software and have a seamless exchange of data,” Brussee explained.
This openness, he believes, is a missing piece in many proprietary solutions that often act as closed ecosystems. The broader conversation around AI in games is polarized.
Some pundits on LinkedIn hype the idea of “click‑to‑game” experiences, suggesting that a single prompt could spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑scale world. Immens’ founders see AI more modestly—as an accelerator, not a replacement for human creativity. Valient warned that the technology currently carries negative connotations because it is disrupting the industry at an unprecedented scale.
Yet he remains optimistic: “AI makes everyone better; the big titles and indie projects alike will benefit.” Economic anxieties also loom large. Critics argue that AI‑focused game tech is a bubble, inflated by lofty valuations.
Valient compared the situation to the dot‑com era, noting that while many companies will fail, the underlying technology endures. “AI isn’t disappearing. The internet survived its bubble, and so will AI‑driven tools,” he said. Immens is focused on building a solid engine first; AI merely helps them move faster and think bigger.
Funding for Immens remains modest and intentionally restrained. The founders have secured “first commitments” but have not disclosed exact figures, describing the amount as “reasonable.” Brussee cautioned against over‑capitalization, noting that too much money can breed complacency. “Startups need to stay scrappy,” he laughed. The current team consists of the three founders plus a handful of helpers, a size they consider optimal for making deliberate technical decisions without the overhead of a large organization.
Immens is now racing toward a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow. The goal is to release this demo within the month, a timeline that is already twice as fast as their original projection when they began in April. Brussee admits that predicting exact milestones is challenging, but the rapid progress underscores the potential of AI‑enhanced development. When asked about the eventual business model, Brussee mentioned admiration for Epic Games’ “you succeed when we succeed” philosophy but admitted it’s too early to lock in specifics.
Ultimately, the team hopes Immens will empower creators to push the artistic and technical boundaries of games. “We love games and want to see more risk‑taking, more creativity,” Brussee concluded. “If our technology can help bring that vision to life, that would be amazing.”