For years, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces in game creation, accounting for roughly 70% of Steam releases in 2025. While open‑source alternatives like Godot have gained traction and some studios cling to proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a notable example—the market has largely been locked into the two giants.
Yet three seasoned developers, Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient, have launched Immersive (Immens) with the conviction that there is still space for a fresh engine that addresses the shortcomings of existing tools. All three founders bring heavyweight résumés: experience at Epic Games, Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and Apple, among others. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee argued that the timing is right for a new engine because "the opportunity didn’t exist a couple of years ago." He believes AI‑assisted programming can finally let developers start from a clean slate, providing rapid, full‑featured prototypes under tight supervision.
Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, clarifies that the AI they employ is not the “prompt‑to‑content” gimmick that dominates headlines. Instead, their AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make the codebase highly extensible. "AI can reason over massive code and data sets," he explains.
"If we design the engine with that capability in mind, even solo creators or tiny teams can plug in custom systems—say, a bespoke particle system—without being limited to superficial scripting." The motivation behind Immens is rooted in the current market reality, which Brussee describes as "rough." Game development costs continue to climb, making it increasingly difficult for small studios to survive. He asks, "Can we find new ways of working? Can we become more efficient, reduce budgets, and shrink teams while still delivering high‑quality experiences?" The answer, according to the founders, lies in leveraging AI to streamline workflows and cut down on repetitive labor. De Jong, the chief product officer, points out that the engine landscape has become overly standardized and consolidated.
While this has created a solid foundation, it also stifles innovation. "The industry faces many challenges, and merely repeating past methods won’t solve them," he says.
"We need a different approach—flexibility over monolithicity." Current engines often force developers into a monolithic workflow, demanding adherence to proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines. Immens aims to invert that relationship: the engine should adapt to the developer, not the other way around.
De Jong envisions a system where users can interchange, append, or modify components at will, crafting bespoke tools that match their personal workflow, shortcuts, and interface preferences. Valient acknowledges AI’s power but warns of its volatility.
"If you don’t keep an eye on it, the system can go off the rails quickly," he notes. To mitigate this, Immens is built to keep users in the driver’s seat, providing full transparency of actions, histories, and reproducibility.
This control enables creators to generate rapid prototypes—like five uniquely‑traited characters in the time it used to take weeks—then discard the temporary tools once the task is complete, dramatically lowering development costs. Flexibility is baked into Immersive’s design philosophy.
De Jong stresses that the engine does not impose a single workflow; instead, it offers an architecture that lets teams decide how much AI to incorporate and where. The goal is to ensure the AI understands context correctly while remaining optional.
Interoperability is another pillar. By embracing open, text‑based standards, Immens allows external tools—Blender, Maya, or any generative system—to communicate seamlessly. "When files are human‑readable, any program can parse them," Brussee says. This openness counters the isolation often seen in proprietary engines, which can act as bottlenecks when integrating third‑party assets.
The broader AI debate in game development is heated. Some commentators sensationalize the technology, claiming that a simple prompt could spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience. Immens’s team tempers such hype, viewing AI as a powerful tool rather than a magic button.
Valient believes AI will elevate all creators, making big and small projects better, though he admits the technology currently carries negative connotations due to its disruptive speed. Economic concerns also swirl around AI, with fears of a bubble inflated by lofty valuations. Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era, noting that while many startups vanished, the underlying internet persisted and grew stronger.
"We’re focused on building a genuinely good engine; AI simply accelerates our vision," he says. Whether the AI market is a bubble remains uncertain, but the founders are confident in their product’s lasting value.
Funding remains modest. Immens has secured its "first commitments" but has not disclosed amounts, describing the capital sought as "reasonable." Brussee cautions against excess funding, which can breed complacency. The company deliberately stays lean—just the three founders plus a handful of helpers—to maintain agility and focus.
Scaling an engine is a complex endeavor; you can’t simply throw a million engineers at the problem. De Jong explains that a small, dedicated team can make thoughtful decisions over time, positioning the company to seize the current window of opportunity created by AI’s rise. The trade‑off lies in balancing sufficient resources to meet deadlines without diluting the team’s effectiveness. Immens is currently developing a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow, slated for release this month.
The timeline has already outpaced initial expectations—what was projected for year‑end is now arriving months early—demonstrating the speed gains the founders tout. Regarding monetization, Brussee admires Epic’s "we succeed when you succeed" model but admits it’s too early to commit to a specific approach.
Ultimately, the team hopes their engine will empower creators to push artistic boundaries, take risks, and innovate. "We love games and want to see more daring, creative experiences," Brussee concludes. "If Immersive can help bring that vision to life, that would be amazing."