For many years, Unity and Unreal have reigned supreme in the world of game creation, accounting for roughly seventy percent of all titles launched on Steam in 2025. While the open‑source Godot engine has enjoyed a surge of interest lately, the majority of large publishers still lean on proprietary solutions—Capcom’s own RE Engine being a prime example. In practice, the market for game development tools has been largely locked into the duopoly of Unity and Unreal.
Enter Immersive Technologies, better known as Immens, founded by three industry stalwarts: Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient. Their résumés read like a who’s‑who of modern gaming, with experience at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple. The trio believes there is still room for a fresh engine that not only competes with the giants but also addresses the shortcomings that have begun to frustrate developers. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a new platform.
“A few years ago the idea of building a modern engine from the ground up seemed impossible,” he said. “Now, with AI‑assisted programming, we can start from scratch again and get functional features up and running much faster.” Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, clarified that the AI they employ is not the “prompt‑to‑image” style that dominates headlines.
Instead, the AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make the codebase highly extensible. “If we design the core with AI reasoning in mind, even a solo developer can add a custom particle system or a bespoke physics module without wrestling with obscure scripting languages,” he noted. The goal is to let creators extend the engine as naturally as they would edit a document, using AI as an accelerator rather than a magical shortcut. The motivation behind Immens is rooted in the current economic climate of the games sector, which Brussee describes as “rough.” Development budgets continue to swell, making it increasingly risky for small teams to bring a title to market.
“We need new ways of working that cut costs, shrink team sizes, and speed up iteration,” he argued. “If we can make the engine smarter, we can lower the barrier to entry and protect studios from financial ruin.” De Jong, the company’s chief product officer, observes that the engine landscape has become overly standardized and consolidated. While a stable foundation is valuable, 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 flexible, modular system that adapts to each project rather than forcing developers to conform to a monolithic workflow.” Current engines often lock users into proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines. De Jong envisions an environment where developers can swap components, append new tools, and reshape the interface to match their personal workflow.
“Imagine being able to craft a toolbar that mirrors your own shortcuts, features, and visual style, then hand it to your team for immediate use,” he explained. This level of personalization, powered by AI‑driven code generation, is a cornerstone of Immens’s philosophy.
Valient is also candid about AI’s pitfalls. While the technology is “really powerful,” it can quickly go off‑track if left unchecked. Immens therefore builds in transparency: users can see exactly what the engine is doing, review its decision history, and ensure reproducibility.
This control is crucial when automating tasks that previously required weeks of manual labor. “Now you could prototype five unique characters over a coffee break, reuse that workflow, and discard it when you’re done,” Valient said.
“What used to be prohibitively expensive becomes routine.” Flexibility is baked into the engine’s core. De Jong stresses that Immens does not impose a single workflow; developers decide how much AI to incorporate and where.
The architecture is deliberately open, allowing seamless integration with existing tools like Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI suite that adheres to open standards. “When files are text‑based, any program can read them,” Brussee noted.
“Our engine can ingest those files, manipulate them, and talk to other software without the usual proprietary barriers.” This openness aims to solve a long‑standing pain point: the difficulty of getting engines to cooperate with third‑party pipelines. The broader conversation about AI in game development is polarized. Some commentators on LinkedIn hype the notion of “click‑to‑game” engines that could generate a Grand Theft Auto‑style experience from a single prompt. Immens acknowledges the hype but treats AI as a tool rather than a replacement for human creativity.
“AI will make everyone better, not eliminate the need for designers,” Valient asserted. “It’s a disruptive technology, but like any tool, its impact depends on how responsibly we use it.” Economic anxieties also linger.
Critics warn that AI‑focused startups may be riding a bubble similar to the dot‑com era. Valient counters that while valuations may be inflated, the underlying technology is here to stay. “The internet didn’t disappear after the dot‑com crash; the weak companies fell, the strong ones survived,” he said. “Our focus is on building a solid engine that leverages AI to accelerate development, not on chasing hype.” Funding remains modest.
Immens has secured its “first commitments” but has not disclosed exact figures, describing the amount as “reasonable.” Brussee cautions against over‑capitalization, noting that excess cash can breed complacency. “Startups need to stay scrappy,” he laughed.
“Too much money can make you lazy.” The company remains a lean operation—just the three founders and a handful of helpers. This intentional size allows rapid decision‑making while avoiding the overhead of a large team. De Jong explains the trade‑off: building an engine is complex and cannot be rushed by hiring a thousand engineers, yet timing is critical to capture the current wave of AI enthusiasm. “We need enough talent to hit the opportunity window, but not so many that we dilute focus,” he said.
Immens is currently developing a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases an AI‑driven editing flow. 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 reported, highlighting the productivity gains they attribute to AI integration.
Business‑model discussions are still early. While Immens admires Epic Games’ revenue‑share philosophy—"we succeed when you succeed"—they have not committed to any specific licensing scheme yet. The founders intend to keep the model flexible, allowing studios of all sizes to benefit without prohibitive costs. Ultimately, the founders hope Immens will enable a new wave of artistic expression and risk‑taking in games.
“We love games and want to see more daring, creative projects,” Brussee concluded. “If our engine helps developers push the medium forward, that would be amazing."