For years, Unity and Unreal have dominated the game‑development landscape, accounting for roughly 70% of all titles launched on Steam in 2025. While open‑source alternatives like Godot have made noticeable strides, most major publishers still lean on proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example. In short, the engine market has long seemed locked into a duopoly. Enter Immens, a fledgling startup founded by three industry veterans: Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient.
Their résumés read like a who's‑who of game‑tech powerhouses, spanning Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple. Together they argue that there is still room for a fresh engine, and more importantly, for a fundamentally better way to build games. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a new platform.
"A couple of years ago this just wasn’t possible," he said. "With AI‑assisted programming we can finally start from a clean slate and deliver full‑featured tools much faster than before." Valient, Immens’ chief technology officer, is quick to clarify that the AI they are employing is not the “prompt‑and‑get‑a‑game” fantasy circulating on social media. Instead, the AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make it highly extensible.
"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 bespoke gameplay mechanic without having to rewrite core systems. The AI acts as an accelerator for extension, not as a magic wand." The motivation behind this AI‑centric approach stems from the current economic climate of game development, which Brussee describes as "rough." Production budgets are ballooning, and smaller studios find it increasingly difficult to break even. "We need new workflows that shrink costs and timelines," he argued.
"If we can let teams of five or ten create high‑quality experiences in months rather than years, we reduce financial risk for everyone involved." De Jong, Immens’ chief product officer, points out that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated. While that standardization provides a reliable foundation, it also stifles innovation.
"The industry is at a crossroads," he said. "Continuing to iterate on the same monolithic engines won’t solve the challenges we face.
We need a paradigm shift—something more modular and adaptable." 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 user’s needs rather than the other way around. "Flexibility is key," he explained.
"You should be able to swap out components, append new ones, and craft tools that match your personal workflow—down to the exact shortcuts, UI layout, and feature set you prefer." Valient acknowledges that AI is a double‑edged sword. While it can dramatically speed up tasks, it can also produce erratic results if left unchecked. "Our design philosophy puts the developer in the driver’s seat," he said.
"You always see what the AI is doing, you have a full history of its actions, and you can reproduce or roll back any step. This transparency turns AI from a black box into a reliable assistant." He gave a concrete example: generating five characters with a specific trait used to require weeks of planning and manual work. With AI‑enhanced tools, a developer could sketch the idea over coffee, generate the assets, iterate, and discard the temporary scripts after use—all in a fraction of the time.
Such rapid prototyping, once prohibitively expensive, becomes routine. Immens’ architecture deliberately avoids imposing a single workflow. De Jong emphasizes that teams can decide how much AI to incorporate and where. "The framework is intentionally open‑ended, so you can tailor the development process to your project’s unique demands," he said.
Interoperability is another pillar of Immens’ design. By embracing open, text‑based standards, the engine can communicate seamlessly with tools like Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI pipeline. "If a file is human‑readable, any system can parse it," Brussee noted. "That means the AI can read, modify, and export assets without getting tangled in proprietary lock‑ins.
This openness is a huge advantage over engines that act as closed ecosystems." The broader AI debate in gaming is polarized. Some pundits on LinkedIn hype the notion of “click‑to‑game” experiences, claiming that a single prompt could spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑scale world. Immens’ founders temper such hype, positioning AI as a powerful tool rather than a replacement for creative talent.
Valient believes AI will make developers better, not obsolete. "The technology is disruptive, but it’s a tool we can wield responsibly," he said. Economic anxieties also swirl around AI, with many fearing 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 underlying technology endured.
"We’re focused on building a solid engine first," he asserted. "AI simply accelerates our ability to iterate and dream bigger.
Whether we’re in a bubble is uncertain, but the tech isn’t going anywhere." Funding remains modest. Immens has secured its "first commitments" but has not disclosed exact figures, describing the amount as "reasonable." Brussee warns against over‑capitalization, noting that excess cash can breed complacency. "Startups need to stay scrappy," he laughed.
The team itself is intentionally lean—just the three founders plus a handful of helpers. De Jong explains that engine development is complex and cannot be rushed by sheer manpower. "You need a small, focused group to make coherent design decisions," he said.
"At the same time, there’s a narrow window of opportunity as AI reshapes the industry. Balancing team size, funding, and timing is the core challenge we’re navigating." Immens is currently racing toward 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 is already twice as fast as the founders originally projected when they started in April.
"Our speed shows that the AI‑centric approach isn’t just theory—it’s delivering tangible acceleration," Brussee remarked. When asked about the eventual business model, Brussee cited Epic Games’ revenue‑share philosophy as an inspiration but admitted it’s too early for concrete plans. "We want a model that aligns our success with the developers’, but we’ll figure that out as we grow," he said.
Ultimately, the trio hopes Immens will enable a new wave of creative risk‑taking in games. "We love games as an art form and want to see more daring, innovative experiences," Brussee concluded.
"If our engine can lower the barrier to experimentation, that would be amazing for the whole industry."