For years, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces in game development, powering roughly 70% of Steam releases in 2025. While Godot has 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 duopoly of Unity and Unreal. Enter Immens, a startup founded by three industry veterans: Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient. Their résumés read like a who's‑who of modern game tech, with experience at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple.
Together they argue that there is still space for a fresh engine, and that the current landscape is ripe for innovation. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a new engine that simply didn’t exist a few years ago.
“With AI‑assisted programming, we can start building things from the ground up again,” he said. “Guided by intelligent tools, we can deliver full‑featured functionality much faster than before.” Valient, Immens’ chief technology officer, clarified that the AI they are leveraging is not the kind of generative prompt‑to‑image system that dominates headlines. Instead, their AI is designed to make the engine itself more extensible.
“If we construct the codebase with AI reasoning in mind, even a solo developer can add a custom particle system or a bespoke gameplay mechanic without wrestling with opaque scripting layers,” he explained. “The AI helps you extend the engine quickly, not just generate assets.” The motivation behind Immens is rooted in the harsh economics of modern game production. Brussee described the current climate as “rough,” noting that development costs keep climbing and studios are under increasing pressure to deliver hits with ever‑larger budgets. “We need new ways of working that lower risk for creators,” he argued.
“If we can make games with smaller teams, tighter timelines, and lower budgets, we protect studios from existential failure.” De Jong, the chief product officer, pointed out that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated. While that consolidation has provided a stable foundation, he believes the industry now demands genuine innovation.
“Continuing to do exactly what we’ve always done won’t solve the challenges we face,” he said. “We need a different approach—one that embraces flexibility rather than imposing a monolithic workflow.” One of the biggest complaints about existing engines is their rigid, monolithic nature.
Developers must conform to proprietary file formats and toolchains, limiting creative freedom. De Jong envisions an engine that bends to the user’s needs, allowing developers to swap components, append new modules, or craft entirely custom tools tailored to their workflow. “Imagine being able to build a UI that mirrors your personal shortcuts, features, and interface preferences, all without fighting the engine’s default conventions,” he mused.
Valient acknowledges that AI, while powerful, can be unpredictable if left unchecked. Immens is being built so that users retain full visibility and control over what the AI does.
“You can trace the history of every change, ensuring repeatability and accountability,” he said. “This makes it possible to prototype, for example, five characters with a unique trait in the time it takes to sip coffee, then discard the temporary tool once the job is done.
That kind of rapid iteration was prohibitively expensive before.” Flexibility is baked into Immens’ architecture. The framework does not enforce a single workflow; instead, it lets developers decide how much AI assistance they want and where to apply it. De Jong stressed the importance of making sure the AI “understands” the developer’s intent, which requires a well‑designed underlying codebase. Interoperability is another pillar of Immens’ design.
By relying on open, text‑based standards, the engine can seamlessly exchange data with popular tools such as Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI pipeline. “When files are human‑readable, any system can parse them,” Brussee explained. “That means the AI can read, modify, and generate assets across the entire toolchain, breaking down the silos that have long plagued proprietary engines.” The broader AI debate in game development is heated. Some pundits predict a future where a single prompt could spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience, fueling fears of “click‑to‑game” shortcuts.
Immens’ team sees AI as a powerful assistant rather than a replacement for human creativity. Valient believes AI will make developers better, not obsolete, and that the current negative perception stems from the technology’s disruptive speed. Economic concerns also linger. Critics warn that AI‑centric startups may be riding a speculative bubble.
Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era, noting that while many companies vanished, the underlying internet persisted and flourished. “We’re focused on building a solid engine; AI simply accelerates our ability to dream bigger and ship faster,” he said.
“Whether we’re in a bubble is uncertain, but history shows that valuable technology survives even when hype fades.” Funding remains modest. Immens has secured its “first commitments” but has not disclosed amounts, emphasizing that excessive capital can breed complacency. Brussee cautioned that too much money can make a startup lazy, whereas limited resources force scrappiness and ingenuity. The team remains intentionally lean—just the three founders plus a handful of helpers.
De Jong explained the trade‑off: a massive team does not automatically translate to faster engine development; instead, a focused group can make deliberate design decisions and iterate efficiently. Timing is crucial, as the industry’s AI wave creates a narrow window of opportunity. Immens is currently building a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow. The goal is to release the demo within the month, a timeline that Brussee says is already twice as fast as originally projected when they started in April.
Regarding the business model, Immens admires Epic Games’ “we succeed when you succeed” philosophy but admits it’s too early to commit to a specific revenue structure. The founders hope their engine will empower creators to push artistic boundaries, take risks, and ultimately drive the industry forward. In their own words, “We love games, we love complex artistic expression, and we want to see more creativity and risk‑taking. If our technology can help bring that vision to life, that would be amazing.”