For many years, the game‑development landscape has been dominated by two heavyweight engines: Unity and Unreal. In fact, by 2025 roughly 70 % of all titles released on Steam were built with one of those platforms.
While open‑source alternatives like Godot have begun to gain traction, and a few large studios still cling to proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a notable example—the market has largely settled into a duopoly. Enter Immens, a fledgling studio founded by three industry veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—who believe there is still room for a fresh approach. Their résumés read like a who’s‑who of game‑tech leadership, with stints at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple.
Together they see an opportunity to challenge the status quo and introduce a new engine that leverages artificial intelligence not as a gimmick, but as a core design principle. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right: “A few years ago the idea of an AI‑augmented engine didn’t really exist. Now the technology has matured enough that we can start from scratch and get functional features up quickly, while still keeping tight control over the development process.” He emphasizes that the AI components are meant to accelerate the creation pipeline rather than replace human creativity.
Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, draws a clear line between the hype‑driven notion of “prompt‑to‑content” and the practical use of AI in engine architecture. “Our AI isn’t about typing a sentence and watching a game materialise,” he says.
“It’s about building an extensible codebase that can understand large amounts of data and help developers extend the engine more efficiently. Imagine a solo developer who wants a custom particle system—rather than wrestling with low‑level scripting, they can ask the AI to scaffold the feature, then fine‑tune it.
That’s the kind of workflow we’re aiming for.” The motivation behind Immens is rooted in the current economic climate of game development. Brussee describes the environment as “rough,” noting that production budgets are ballooning and the risk of failure is higher than ever.
“We need new ways of working that lower costs and speed up delivery, so smaller teams aren’t forced to gamble their livelihoods on massive projects,” he asserts. De Jong, the chief product officer, points out that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated.
While that consolidation has provided a stable foundation, it also stifles innovation. “The industry faces a slew of challenges—rising costs, talent shortages, and a monolithic toolchain that forces developers to adapt to the engine rather than the other way around,” he explains. “What we need now is genuine innovation, not more of the same.” One of the core criticisms De Jong levels at existing engines is their monolithic nature. Developers often have to work within rigid file formats and workflows that limit customization.
By contrast, Immens aims to be a chameleon‑like platform that molds itself to the developer’s needs. “Flexibility is key,” he says. “You should be able to swap modules, append new functionality, or build bespoke tools that match your personal workflow—down to the shortcuts, UI layout, and feature set you prefer.” Valient acknowledges that AI is a double‑edged sword. While it can dramatically accelerate tasks, it can also produce unexpected results if left unchecked.
“We’re designing Immens so that the user remains in the driver’s seat,” he notes. “You always see what the AI is doing, you have a full history of its actions, and you can reproduce or roll back changes at will. This transparency is essential for reliable, repeatable development.” The team envisions a future where routine, labor‑intensive tasks—like generating a set of five characters with specific traits—can be completed in minutes rather than weeks.
“Previously you’d spend days planning and coding; now you could sketch the idea over coffee, let the AI generate a prototype, test it, and either iterate or discard it,” Valient says. “That kind of rapid prototyping was prohibitively expensive before.” Immens’s architecture is deliberately agnostic. It does not impose a single workflow or force developers into a predefined pipeline.
Instead, the engine provides a modular framework that lets users decide how much AI assistance they want and where to apply it. “The AI should understand the context correctly, but the choice of when to invoke it is entirely up to the developer,” De Jong adds.
Interoperability is another pillar of Immens’s design philosophy. By embracing open standards and text‑based file formats, the engine can communicate seamlessly with popular tools such as Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI service. “When files are plain text, any program can read and manipulate them,” Brussee explains. “This openness means you can plug in your favourite 3D suite, asset pipeline, or custom script without wrestling with proprietary lock‑ins.
It’s a level of integration that many current engines still lack.” The conversation around AI in game development is not without controversy. Some commentators on platforms like LinkedIn warn of a future where a single prompt could spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience, sparking fears of a “click‑to‑game” dystopia. Immens’s founders temper those extremes, positioning AI as a powerful tool rather than a magic wand. “AI will make creators better, not replace them,” Valient says.
“It’s disrupting the industry at an unprecedented scale, which is why it feels uncomfortable, but that disruption is ultimately positive.” De Jong stresses responsible usage: “Every technology can be misused. Our job is to provide a tool that empowers creators while encouraging ethical practices.” This sentiment echoes broader industry concerns about the speculative AI bubble. Critics argue that inflated valuations could burst, leaving many startups stranded. Valient counters that while no one can predict the market’s next move, AI’s trajectory mirrors the early internet: the hype may settle, but the underlying technology endures.
“The dot‑com bubble didn’t kill the web; it refined it. We’re building a solid engine that will outlive any hype cycle.” Funding for Immens remains modest and undisclosed, though the founders mention having secured “first commitments” and deem the amount “reasonable.” Brussee warns against over‑capitalization, noting that excess cash can breed complacency. “Startups need to stay scrappy,” he laughs.
“Too much money can make you lazy, and the best innovations often come from constraints.” The company remains a lean operation—just the three founders plus a handful of helpers. This small size is intentional, allowing rapid decision‑making and focused development. De Jong explains the balance: “Building an engine is complex; you can’t throw a million engineers at it and expect miracles. You need a tight team that can iterate, learn, and adapt.
At the same time, there’s a narrow window of opportunity as AI reshapes the industry. We must scale just enough to hit that sweet spot without over‑extending.” Immens is currently targeting a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a live editing workflow powered by generative AI. The team aims to release this demo within the month, a timeline that has already outpaced their original expectations. “When we started in April, we thought we’d be ready by year‑end,” Brussee admits.
“We’re now roughly twice as fast as we anticipated, which makes it hard to give precise schedule estimates.” As for the business model, Immens is still exploring options. While they admire Epic Games’ “we succeed when you succeed” revenue share, they acknowledge that it’s too early to commit to a specific approach. The overarching goal, however, remains clear: to empower developers of all sizes to create richer, more ambitious games without the prohibitive costs that currently dominate the market. In the words of Brussee, the ultimate ambition is to see a resurgence of creativity and risk‑taking in the medium.
“We love games as an art form. We want to see more daring projects, more innovative mechanics, more diverse voices. If our technology can help make that happen, it would be amazing.” In summary, Immens represents a bold attempt to re‑imagine the game‑engine paradigm by weaving AI into the very fabric of its architecture, championing flexibility, openness, and developer autonomy.
Whether it can shift the industry’s entrenched dynamics remains to be seen, but the trio’s experience, vision, and early progress suggest they are poised to make a meaningful impact on the future of game creation.