For many years, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces in game creation, together powering roughly 70% of the titles that appeared on Steam in 2025. While Godot has gained traction recently and large studios continue to rely on proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a notable example—the market has largely been locked into the duopoly of Unity and Unreal. Enter Immersive, a startup founded by three seasoned industry veterans: Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient.
Their résumés read like a who’s‑who of game development, with experience at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple. The trio believes there is still space for a fresh engine that addresses the shortcomings of today’s offerings. 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 bring full‑featured tools to market much faster.” Valient, Immersive’s chief technology officer, clarified that the AI component is not about generating content with a single prompt. Instead, the AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make the codebase highly extensible. “The AI can reason over large codebases and data sets,” he noted.
“If we design the engine with that capability in mind, even a solo developer can add a custom particle system or a new rendering pass without rewriting large sections of the engine. AI becomes a catalyst for rapid extension rather than a black‑box creator.” The motivation behind the project is the increasingly hostile economics of game development. Brussee described the current climate as “rough,” noting that production budgets keep inflating while the risk of failure grows. “We need new ways of working that lower costs and let smaller teams ship games faster,” he argued.
“If we can cut the development timeline and budget, studios won’t have to gamble their entire livelihood on a single title.” De Jong, the chief product officer, pointed out that the engine market has entered a phase of “standardisation and consolidation.” While that has provided a stable foundation, it has also stifled innovation. “The industry faces many challenges, and simply iterating on the same old tools won’t solve them,” he said.
“We need a paradigm shift—flexibility over monoliths.” Current engines often force developers into a monolithic workflow, complete with proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines. De Jong envisions an engine that bends to the developer’s needs.
“You should be able to swap modules, append new features, and craft bespoke tools that match your personal workflow,” he explained. “Imagine a UI built exactly to your preferences, with shortcuts and panels tuned for your team’s specific project. That level of customization is what we aim to enable.” Valient acknowledges that AI is powerful but also unpredictable.
“If you don’t keep an eye on it, the system can go off the rails quickly,” he warned. Immersive therefore builds transparency into the engine: every AI action is logged, repeatable, and fully controllable by the user. This auditability ensures creators understand how a tool arrived at a solution, whether it’s generating five characters with a unique trait or automating a repetitive animation task.
“What used to take weeks can now be prototyped over coffee,” Valient said, emphasizing that the tool can be discarded after a handful of uses, dramatically reducing cost. Flexibility is baked into the core architecture. De Jong stresses that Immersive does not impose a single workflow or a predetermined level of AI integration. “You decide how much AI you want and where you apply it,” he said.
“Our job is to make sure the AI interprets your intent correctly, but the ultimate control stays with you.” Interoperability is another pillar of the design. By adopting open, text‑based standards, Immersive ensures that files can be read and manipulated by any compatible software. “If a file is plain text, any tool—from Blender to Maya to a custom script—can ingest it,” Brussee explained. “The AI can parse those files and act on them, creating a seamless bridge between different parts of the pipeline.
This openness is something many proprietary engines have neglected.” The broader AI debate in game development is heated. Some commentators predict a future where a single prompt can generate a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience, sparking fears of “click‑to‑game” shortcuts.
Immersive’s team acknowledges that such extremes may eventually be possible, but they view AI primarily as an augmentative tool. “AI will make every developer better, not replace them,” Valient asserted. “It’s a disruptive technology, but like any tool, its impact depends on how responsibly we use it.” Economic anxieties also linger, with many questioning whether AI‑focused startups are part of a speculative bubble. Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era: “The internet didn’t disappear when the bubble burst; many companies fell, but the technology endured.
We’re focused on building a solid engine first, using AI to accelerate development and inspire bigger dreams. Whether it’s a bubble is unknown, but history shows useful tech survives.” Funding remains modest.
Immersive has secured its “first commitments,” though the exact amount is undisclosed and described as “reasonable.” Brussee cautions against excess capital, noting that abundant cash can breed complacency. “Startups need to stay scrappy,” he laughed. “Too much money can make you lazy.” The company remains lean: the three founders plus a handful of helpers.
This small size is intentional, allowing rapid decision‑making while avoiding the overhead of a massive team. De Jong explains the trade‑off: “Building an engine is complex, but you don’t need a thousand engineers. A focused group can iterate faster and make smarter architectural choices, especially when a narrow window of opportunity exists as AI reshapes the industry.” Immersive is currently targeting 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 to take until year‑end is now arriving in half that time. Regarding the business model, Brussee admires Epic’s “we succeed when you succeed” philosophy but admits it’s too early to commit to a specific revenue structure. The ultimate goal, he says, is to empower creators to push the boundaries of what games can be. “We love games and the artistic expression they enable,” Brussee concluded.
“We want to see more risk‑taking, more creativity, and more innovation built on technology like ours. If we can help bring that vision to life, it would be amazing."