For many years, Unity and Unreal have been the de‑facto standards for video‑game creation, together accounting for roughly 70 % of all titles launched on Steam in 2025. While Godot has enjoyed a surge in popularity and some large publishers cling to proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a notable example—the dominance of Unity and Unreal remains largely unchallenged. Enter Immersive, the brainchild of three seasoned industry veterans: Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient. Their résumés read like a who‑is‑who of game development, spanning Epic Games (the studio behind Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple.
The trio believes there is still space for a fresh engine, and more importantly, for a fundamentally better one. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee argued that “the moment is right” to launch a platform that simply didn’t exist a few years ago. He pointed to the emergence of AI‑assisted programming as a catalyst that could let developers start from a clean slate again.
“With a lot of guidance and control, you can build something that delivers full functionality quickly,” he explained. Valient, Immersive’s chief technology officer, clarified that their use of AI is not the flashy, prompt‑to‑image style that dominates headlines. Instead, the AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make it highly extensible.
“AI can reason over massive codebases and data sets,” he said. “If we design the underlying code with that in mind, even a solo developer can extend the engine beyond simple scripting. Want a custom particle system? You can add it directly where it belongs.” This approach, Valient believes, empowers creators to iterate faster and tailor the engine to their unique needs.
The motivation behind Immersive’s AI‑powered engine stems from a bleak view of the current market. Brussee described the environment as “rough,” noting that development costs are spiralling and the risk of failure is higher than ever.
“Games are getting more expensive, and we need a new way to break that cycle,” he said. “If we can work more efficiently, produce titles with smaller teams, and shrink budgets, studios won’t be gambling their livelihoods on a single hit.” De Jong, the company’s chief product officer, observed that the engine landscape has become overly standardized and consolidated.
While that consolidation has given developers a stable foundation, it also stifles innovation. “The industry is facing a host of challenges, and simply doing what we’ve always done won’t cut it,” he warned. “We need innovation, not more of the same.” One of De Jong’s key criticisms of existing engines is their monolithic nature.
Developers must conform to proprietary file formats and rigid workflows. By contrast, Immersive aims to create a malleable system that adapts to the user. “Flexibility is essential,” he said.
“You should be able to swap components, append new features, and build bespoke tools that match your personal workflow—down to the shortcuts, UI layout, and feature set you need for a particular project.” Valient also cautioned that AI, while powerful, can quickly go off‑track if left unchecked. To mitigate this, Immersive is building transparency into the engine: users will see exactly what the AI is doing, retain a full history of changes, and be able to reproduce results reliably.
This level of control, he argues, turns AI from a mysterious black box into a dependable assistant. “Imagine needing five characters with a specific trait,” he illustrated.
“Previously that might take weeks of manual work. With AI‑driven tooling, you could sketch the idea over coffee, generate the assets, reuse the tool a handful of times, and discard it—saving huge amounts of time and money.” The platform’s architecture deliberately avoids imposing a single workflow.
De Jong emphasized that developers decide how much AI to integrate and where to apply it. “Our framework is set up so you can choose your own process, whether you lean heavily on AI or prefer a more hands‑on approach,” he noted. “The crucial part is ensuring the AI interprets your intent correctly.” Interoperability is another pillar of Immersive’s design. By embracing open, text‑based standards, the engine can communicate seamlessly with other tools such as Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI pipeline.
“When files are human‑readable, any software can parse them,” Brussee explained. “That opens the door for smarter interfaces across the entire toolchain, something proprietary engines have struggled to achieve.” The broader conversation around AI in game development is polarized.
Some commentators on LinkedIn hype a future where a single prompt could spawn a Grand‑Theft‑Auto‑scale experience, fueling fears of a “click‑to‑game” apocalypse. Immersive’s team acknowledges that such extremes are possible but insists their vision treats AI as a tool, not a replacement for creativity.
“AI will make everyone better, not replace the craft,” Valient said. “It has a negative stigma now because it’s disrupting at a scale no one has seen before.” Economic anxieties also linger, with many questioning whether the AI boom is a bubble. Valient likened the situation to the dot‑com era: the internet didn’t disappear, but countless over‑valued companies fell away, leaving the robust technologies behind.
“We’re focused on building a solid engine,” he asserted. “AI helps us move faster and dream bigger, but the core product must stand on its own merits.” Funding remains modest. Immersive has secured its “first commitments” but has not disclosed amounts, describing them as “reasonable.” Brussee warned against excess capital, noting that too much money can breed complacency.
“Startups need to stay scrappy,” he laughed. The company remains lean—just the three founders plus a handful of helpers. This intentional size allows for rapid decision‑making while avoiding the pitfalls of a massive, unwieldy team.
De Jong explained the balancing act: “Building an engine is complex; you can’t throw a million engineers at it and expect miracles. You need a focused group to iterate, learn, and make hard choices.” At the same time, they must assemble enough talent and resources to seize the narrow window of opportunity presented by AI’s rise. Immersive is currently racing toward a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow. The team aims to release the demo within the month, a timeline that has already outpaced their original end‑of‑year estimate.
“We’re moving twice as fast as we thought we would,” Brussee said, underscoring the difficulty of predicting milestones in such an experimental space. As for the business model, Immersive is still exploring options. While they admire Epic Games’ philosophy of “we succeed when you succeed,” Brussee admitted it’s too early to commit to a specific revenue structure. Ultimately, the founders hope their engine will catalyze a new wave of artistic risk‑taking and innovation.
“We love games and want to see more daring, creative experiences,” Brussee concluded. “If our technology can help push the industry forward, that would be amazing."