For many years, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces in game creation, responsible for roughly 70% of the titles launched on Steam in 2025. While open‑source alternatives like Godot have gained traction and some studios continue to rely on proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a notable example—the market has largely been a duopoly. Against this backdrop, three seasoned industry veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—have launched Immens, a startup that believes a fresh engine can still carve out space and bring meaningful improvements.
The founders’ résumés read like a who’s‑who of modern game development. Brussee helped build the original Unreal engine at Epic Games, De Jong has been a key figure at Guerrilla Games and Apple, and Valient’s background includes senior roles at Boss Key. Together they argue that the status quo is ripe for disruption.
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee noted that “the opportunity exists now to create an engine that simply didn’t exist a few years ago.” He believes AI‑assisted programming can return developers to a more creative, less constrained workflow, allowing them to assemble functional systems quickly while retaining tight oversight. Valient, Immens’ chief technology officer, stresses that the AI embedded in their platform is not a gimmick that generates content from a single prompt. Instead, it is designed to make the engine itself highly extensible. “AI can reason about large codebases and data sets,” he explains.
“If we build the engine with that capability in mind, even a solo developer can add a custom particle system or a bespoke gameplay mechanic without being limited to a tiny scripting layer.” This approach aims to give creators the tools to extend the engine at speed, turning AI into a productivity partner rather than a black‑box creator. One of the driving forces behind Immens is the increasingly harsh economics of game production. Brussee describes the current climate as “rough,” pointing out that development costs continue to climb, making it harder for small teams to survive. He asks whether new workflows can break this cycle, delivering games faster, with fewer staff and smaller budgets, thereby reducing the existential risk to studios and their creators.
De Jong, the chief product officer, observes that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated. While that consolidation provides a solid technical foundation, it also stifles innovation.
“We’re at a point where the industry faces multiple challenges, and simply repeating past methods isn’t enough,” he says. “What we need now is genuine innovation, not more standardisation.” He criticizes the monolithic nature of existing engines, which force developers to conform to proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines. With AI, Immens aims to deliver a system that molds itself to the developer’s needs, offering interchangeable modules, appendable features, and the ability to craft custom tools tailored to individual workflows. Valient acknowledges AI’s power but also its volatility.
He warns that without careful supervision, AI can “go off the rails.” To mitigate this, Immens is built to keep users in full control, providing transparent histories of AI actions so that outcomes are repeatable and auditable. This level of oversight enables developers to automate repetitive tasks—such as generating multiple characters with specific traits—while still retaining the ability to intervene, adjust, and discard the generated assets as needed.
Flexibility is a core tenet of Immens’ design philosophy. De Jong stresses that the engine does not impose a single workflow; instead, it offers a modular architecture that lets teams decide how much AI to incorporate and where. The framework is deliberately open, leveraging text‑based file formats and industry‑wide open standards.
Brussee explains that when files are human‑readable, any tool—whether it’s Blender, Maya, or a generative AI system—can parse and manipulate them. This openness facilitates smoother integration across the diverse software ecosystem that game developers already use, a problem that many closed‑source engines have historically struggled to solve. The broader conversation around AI in games is often polarized.
Some commentators on platforms like LinkedIn hype the idea of “click‑to‑game” experiences where a single prompt could spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑scale world. Immens’ team tempers such hype, positioning AI as a powerful assistant rather than a replacement for human creativity.
Valient believes AI will elevate the quality of both blockbuster titles and indie projects by making developers more efficient. De Jong adds that, like any tool, AI can be misused, but the industry has a responsibility to harness it responsibly. Economic concerns also swirl around AI, with many fearing a speculative bubble. Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era, noting that while numerous startups vanished, the underlying internet technology persisted and flourished.
He argues that Immens is focused on building a genuinely useful engine; AI merely accelerates development and expands creative possibilities. Whether the market is in a bubble remains uncertain, but the team remains confident that a solid product will survive any downturn.
Funding for Immens is still in its early stages. The founders have secured “first commitments” but have not disclosed exact figures, describing the amount as “reasonable.” Brussee cautions against excessive capital, suggesting that too much money can breed complacency and diminish the scrappy mindset needed for a startup.
The company remains lean—just the three founders plus a handful of helpers—by design, allowing rapid decision‑making and focused development. Immens is currently targeting a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow, slated for release later this month.
The timeline has already outpaced the team’s original expectations; what was projected to take until year‑end is now arriving in half that time. As for the business model, Brussee admires Epic’s “we succeed when you succeed” approach but admits it’s too early to commit to a specific revenue strategy. Ultimately, the trio hopes their engine will empower creators to push the medium forward.
“We love games and want to see more daring, artistic expression,” Brussee says. “If our technology can lower barriers, foster risk‑taking, and spark innovation, that would be amazing.”