For many years, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces in game creation, powering roughly 70% of the titles that appeared on Steam in 2025. While Godot has enjoyed a surge in popularity and some large publishers still rely on proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example—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 belief that there is still space for a fresh engine that addresses the shortcomings of the status quo.
The founders’ résumés read like a who’s‑who of modern game development. Brussee and De Jong have spent years at Epic Games, the creators of Unreal, while Valient’s experience spans Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple’s internal tools team. Their collective expertise gives them a unique perspective on why the current generation of engines feels increasingly restrictive, especially for smaller teams that lack deep pockets. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a new engine because “the landscape has changed in ways that didn’t exist a few years ago.” He highlighted the rise of AI‑assisted programming as a catalyst that could let developers start from a clean slate and iterate more quickly.
“With AI‑supported coding you can rebuild core systems from the ground up, yet still stay under tight guidance and control,” he said. The promise is a tool that delivers full‑featured functionality without the long‑term overhead traditionally associated with building an engine from scratch.
Valient, Immens’ chief technology officer, clarified that the AI they are integrating is not about generating content with a single prompt. Instead, the AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make it highly extensible. “AI excels at reasoning over large codebases and data sets,” he noted. “If we design the engine with that capability in mind, even a solo developer can add a custom particle system or a bespoke physics module without wrestling with opaque scripting layers.” In other words, the AI acts as an intelligent assistant that helps developers extend the engine’s core more fluidly, accelerating the creation of custom tools and features.
The motivation behind Immens is also economic. Brussee described the current market as “rough,” pointing out that development budgets are inflating while the risk of failure grows. “Games are getting more expensive, and studios need a new way to break that cycle,” he argued. The team believes that by leveraging AI to streamline workflows, developers can produce high‑quality experiences with fewer people, shorter timelines, and lower financial exposure.
De Jong, the chief product officer, observed that the engine space has entered a phase of “standardisation and consolidation.” While this has provided a stable foundation, he warned that simply iterating on existing solutions will not solve the industry’s emerging challenges. “We need innovation, not more standardisation,” he asserted. He criticized the monolithic nature of current engines, where developers must conform to proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines.
With AI, Immens aims to deliver an engine that adapts to the user, allowing interchangeable components, modular extensions, and personalized toolsets tailored to a team’s specific workflow. Flexibility is a core tenet of Immens. De Jong envisions a scenario where a developer can craft a custom interface with exact shortcuts, features, and visual layouts that match their personal or project‑level needs. This level of customization, he argues, has been hampered by the one‑size‑fits‑all approach of legacy engines.
By exposing the underlying architecture and enabling AI‑driven extensions, Immens hopes to empower creators to shape the engine rather than be forced to shape themselves around it. Valient also cautioned that AI, while powerful, can “go off the rails” if left unchecked. Immens therefore places the user in full control of the AI’s actions, logging every decision and ensuring repeatability.
This transparency allows developers to trust the tool, knowing exactly how a piece of code was generated or modified. He illustrated the impact with a simple example: creating five characters with a specific trait used to take weeks of planning; now, with AI assistance, the same task can be conceptualised over a coffee break and executed repeatedly with minimal overhead.
The engine’s design embraces open standards, another deliberate choice to avoid the isolation that often plagues proprietary tools. Brussee explained that when files are text‑based, any software can read them, allowing seamless integration with popular applications such as Blender, Maya, or other generative AI utilities.
“If everything speaks a common language, you can plug in any tool you like and have it communicate naturally,” he said. This openness not only simplifies pipelines but also future‑proofs the engine against evolving industry practices. There is a vocal backlash against AI in game development, with some commentators warning that “click‑to‑game” solutions could render skilled craftsmanship obsolete. Immens’ team acknowledges the hype but insists that AI should be viewed as a catalyst rather than a replacement.
Valient believes AI will make developers better, not replace them, and stresses the responsibility of the industry to use the technology ethically. Economic concerns also surface, especially regarding the hype‑driven valuations surrounding AI startups. Valient likened the situation to the dot‑com bubble, noting that while many companies will fall, the underlying technology will endure. “AI isn’t disappearing; it’s becoming a permanent part of our toolkit,” he said.
Immens aims to build a solid engine first, using AI to accelerate development and inspire bigger creative ambitions, regardless of market fluctuations. Funding remains modest. Immens has secured its “first commitments” but has not disclosed exact figures, describing the amount as “reasonable.” Brussee warned against over‑funding, noting that excess capital can breed complacency. The company deliberately remains lean—just the three founders and a handful of helpers—because building an engine is a complex, iterative process that benefits from focused, small‑team decision‑making.
Currently, Immens is working on a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow, slated for release later this month. The team originally projected a year‑long development timeline, yet they are already moving twice as fast as anticipated. While the business model is still under discussion, Brussee expressed admiration for Epic’s “we succeed when you succeed” licensing philosophy, though he emphasized that it’s too early to commit to any specific arrangement. Ultimately, the founders hope Immens will enable a new wave of creativity and risk‑taking in games.
“We love games and want to see more daring, artistic expressions,” Brussee concluded. “If our technology can help push the industry forward, that would be amazing.”