For years, Unity and Unreal have reigned supreme in game creation, accounting for roughly seventy percent of Steam releases in 2025. While Godot has made notable strides and some studios cling to proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example—the market has largely been a duopoly. Into this landscape step three seasoned industry veterans: Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient, the founders of Immens. Their résumés read like a who’s‑who of top‑tier development, featuring stints at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and Apple.
Together they believe there is still room for a fresh engine that not only competes but also improves upon the status quo. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee argued that the timing is ripe for a new platform that simply did not exist a few years ago. “With AI‑assisted programming, we can start building from the ground up again,” he explained.
“Guided by intelligent tools, developers can achieve full‑featured functionality much more quickly.” Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, clarified that the AI they employ is not the flashy, prompt‑driven generation that dominates headlines. Instead, it is woven into the engine’s architecture to make the codebase highly extensible. “AI can reason over massive code and data sets,” he said. “If we design the engine with that capability in mind, even solo creators or tiny teams can plug in custom systems—like a bespoke particle effect—without being limited to superficial scripting.” This approach, he added, is intended to let developers harness AI to accelerate extensions while retaining full control.
The motivation behind Immens’s AI‑powered engine stems from a grim market reality. Brussee described the current climate as “rough,” noting that game development costs are spiralling and success is increasingly elusive.
“We need new ways of working that cut expenses, shrink team sizes, and shorten timelines,” he asserted. “Otherwise studios risk their livelihoods on projects that may never see the light of day.” De Jong, the chief product officer, observed that the engine space has become overly standardized and consolidated.
While this has provided a solid foundation, he warned that the industry now faces challenges that cannot be solved by merely iterating on existing tools. “We need innovation, not more of the same,” he said. “A monolithic engine forces developers to conform to its file formats and workflows.
With AI, we can flip that script and let the engine adapt to the creator’s needs.” Flexibility, according to De Jong, is paramount. He envisions a system where users can swap components, append new modules, and craft bespoke interfaces tailored to their personal workflows.
“Imagine a toolset that mirrors my own background, with the exact shortcuts, features, and UI I prefer,” he explained. “That level of customization empowers teams to work exactly the way they need to.” Valient acknowledged AI’s double‑edged nature, noting that while it is incredibly powerful, it can also veer off course if left unchecked.
Immens therefore emphasizes transparency: developers can see what the engine is doing, review its decision history, and ensure repeatable outcomes. This visibility, he argued, enables rapid prototyping—such as generating five uniquely‑traited characters over a coffee break—that would previously have taken weeks and a hefty budget. Immens’s philosophy rejects a one‑size‑fits‑all workflow. De Jong stressed that the framework is deliberately agnostic, allowing users to decide how much AI to incorporate and where.
“The architecture must be open enough that you can choose your own path, but robust enough that the AI understands the context correctly,” he said. Interoperability is another cornerstone. By adopting open, text‑based standards, Immens aims to speak fluently with tools like Blender, Maya, and other generative pipelines. “When files are human‑readable, any system can ingest them,” Brussee noted.
“That means the engine can seamlessly plug into existing pipelines rather than acting as a closed, proprietary silo.” The broader AI debate in games is heated, with some commentators warning of a future where entire experiences can be conjured with a single prompt. Immens’s team acknowledges the hype but frames AI as a tool rather than a magic button. Valient believes AI will elevate creators, making “big games and everything in between better because AI makes everybody better.” De Jong added that, like any technology, AI can be misused, but the responsibility lies with the industry to apply it ethically.
Economic concerns also swirl around AI, with skeptics pointing to inflated valuations and potential bubbles. Valient countered that while hype cycles come and go, the underlying technology endures—much like the internet after the dot‑com bust. “We’re focused on building a solid engine; AI simply accelerates our dreaming and execution,” he said.
Whether the market is in a bubble remains uncertain, but Immens is committed to delivering value regardless. Funding details are still under wraps. Immens has secured its “first commitments” but has not disclosed amounts, describing the target as “reasonable.” Brussee warned that excessive capital can breed complacency, emphasizing the need to stay scrappy. The company remains a lean operation—just the three founders and a handful of helpers—by design.
De Jong explained that engine development is complex and cannot be solved by throwing a million engineers at the problem; a focused, small team can make deliberate decisions and iterate efficiently. Currently, Immens is racing toward a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases an AI‑driven editing workflow, slated for release later this month. The timeline has already outpaced initial expectations; what was projected to take until year‑end is now arriving roughly twice as fast.
As for the business model, Brussee hinted at alignment with Epic’s “we succeed when you succeed” philosophy but admitted it is too early for concrete statements. Ultimately, the founders hope their engine will spark 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.”