For years, Unity and Unreal have been the de‑facto platforms for creating video games, accounting for roughly 70 % of all titles released on Steam in 2025. While open‑source alternatives like Godot have enjoyed a surge in popularity, the market remains heavily concentrated around the two giants, with a few major studios still relying on proprietary solutions such as Capcom’s RE Engine. In this landscape, three seasoned industry veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—believe there is still room for a fresh approach. Their startup, Immens, is set to launch an AI‑enhanced game engine that aims to lower costs, accelerate development cycles, and give small teams the flexibility that current engines often deny.
The founders bring a résumé that reads like a who’s‑who of modern game development. Brussee cut his teeth at Epic Games, the creator of Unreal, while De Jong spent time at Guerrilla Games and Apple, and Valient has held senior technical roles at Boss Key and other studios. Together they see an opportunity that didn’t exist just a few years ago: leveraging AI‑assisted programming to rebuild a game engine from the ground up. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right because AI can now handle large codebases and reason about data in ways that were previously impossible.
“With AI‑supported programming you can start building things from scratch again,” he said. “Guided by intelligent tools, you can deliver full functionality much faster.” Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, clarified that the AI they envision is not about prompting the engine to conjure assets out of thin air. Instead, it focuses on making the engine itself highly extensible.
“If we design the codebase with AI in mind, even a solo developer can add a custom particle system or a bespoke gameplay mechanic without being limited to a narrow scripting layer,” he noted. This extensibility is meant to empower creators to iterate quickly, using AI as a catalyst for extending the engine rather than as a replacement for human creativity.
The motivation behind Immens is rooted in the harsh economic realities of modern game development. Brussee described the current climate as “rough,” pointing out that production budgets are ballooning and the risk of failure is higher than ever. “We need new ways of working that cut costs and let smaller teams deliver high‑quality experiences faster,” he argued.
De Jong echoed this sentiment, observing that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated. While standardization provides a stable foundation, it also stifles innovation. “The industry needs a different approach—innovation, not more of the same,” he said.
One of the pain points with existing engines is their monolithic nature. Developers often have to adapt to proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines, which can hinder creativity.
De Jong believes AI can flip this script by delivering an engine that molds itself around the developer’s workflow. “You should be able to swap components, append new tools, and modify the interface to match exactly what your project demands,” he explained. In practice, this could mean a designer building a custom UI with shortcuts tailored to their team’s habits, all without waiting for the engine vendor to roll out an update. Valient also warned that AI, while powerful, can go off‑track if left unchecked.
Immens is therefore being built with transparency and control at its core. Users will be able to trace every AI‑driven change, understand its history, and ensure repeatable results.
This level of oversight is crucial for maintaining artistic intent and avoiding the “black‑box” pitfalls that have plagued other AI tools. Flexibility is baked into Immens’s architecture.
The team refuses to impose a single workflow, instead offering a framework that lets developers decide how much AI to incorporate and where. “It’s up to you how you want to use it,” De Jong affirmed.
The engine also embraces open standards, meaning that text‑based assets can be read and manipulated by any compatible tool. This openness facilitates seamless integration with popular software such as Blender, Maya, or other generative pipelines, eliminating the isolation that many proprietary engines enforce.
The broader conversation about AI in game development is polarized. Some commentators hype the prospect of “click‑to‑game” experiences where a prompt generates a full‑blown GTA‑style world. Immens’s founders acknowledge that such extremes may eventually be possible, but they view AI primarily as an accelerator for human creators. “AI will make everyone better, not replace them,” Valient said.
De Jong added that the industry must adopt AI responsibly, recognizing that any tool can be misused if left unchecked. Economic concerns also loom large. Critics argue that the AI boom resembles a bubble, with inflated valuations and speculative hype. Valient counters that, like the dot‑com era, the underlying technology will endure even if some companies fall away.
“We’re focused on building a solid engine; AI simply helps us move faster and dream bigger,” he explained. The team remains cautious about funding, noting that they have secured initial commitments but have not disclosed exact figures. Brussee cautioned against over‑capitalization, warning that too much money can breed complacency in a startup that needs to stay scrappy.
Immens is still a lean operation—just the three founders and a handful of helpers. This small size is intentional, allowing rapid decision‑making while avoiding the overhead of a large staff. De Jong emphasized that building an engine is a complex, long‑term endeavor that cannot be solved by simply throwing more people at it.
The goal is to strike a balance between sufficient resources and maintaining an agile, focused team. The company is currently developing a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases an AI‑driven editing workflow. They aim to release this demo within the month, already having accelerated their timeline by a factor of two compared to initial estimates. While the business model is still being refined, Brussee expressed admiration for Epic’s “we succeed when you succeed” licensing philosophy, though he admitted it is too early to commit to a specific approach.
Ultimately, the founders hope Immens will enable a new wave of creative 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.”