Unity and Unreal have long held sway over the game‑development landscape, accounting for roughly 70% of Steam releases in 2025. While open‑source alternatives like Godot have gained traction and some studios cling to proprietary tools such as Capcom’s RE Engine, the market remains heavily concentrated around the two giants. Against this backdrop, three industry veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—have founded Immens with the belief that a fresh engine can still find a foothold and push the status quo forward. The trio’s résumés read like a who's‑who of modern game‑making: experience at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple.
In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee argued that the timing is now ripe for a new platform, noting that “a few years ago the kind of engine we envision simply didn’t exist.” He sees AI‑assisted programming as the catalyst that lets developers start from a clean slate and iterate rapidly, delivering full‑featured functionality without the massive overhead traditionally associated with building a game engine from scratch. Valient, Immens’ chief technology officer, clarifies that the company’s use of AI differs from the hype‑driven “prompt‑to‑asset” narrative. Instead, the AI is baked into the engine’s architecture to make the codebase highly extensible.
"AI can reason over large codebases and data sets very well," he explains. "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 wrestling with opaque scripting layers." In practice, this means the engine aims to provide a scaffold that developers can augment quickly, using AI as a productivity partner rather than a replacement for human creativity.
Brussee paints a bleak picture of the current market dynamics: development costs are soaring, project timelines are lengthening, and the risk of financial ruin for small studios is growing. "It’s getting harder to succeed making games," he says. "We need new ways of working that cut costs, shrink team sizes, and accelerate delivery so creators aren’t gambling their livelihoods on a single title." The founders argue that AI‑driven tooling can break this cycle by automating repetitive tasks, generating content on demand, and allowing teams to prototype ideas in minutes rather than weeks. De Jong, Immens’ chief product officer, points out that the engine space has become overly standardized and consolidated.
While this has produced reliable foundations, it also stifles innovation. "The industry faces a host of challenges, and simply iterating on existing engines isn’t enough," he asserts.
"We need a paradigm shift—flexibility over monoliths, modularity over rigid pipelines." One of the pain points De Jong highlights is the monolithic nature of current engines, which force developers to conform to proprietary file formats and workflows. With AI, Immens aims to flip that relationship: the engine should adapt to the developer, not the other way around.
He envisions a system where users can swap components, append new modules, or rewrite interfaces to match their personal or team preferences. "I can craft tools that reflect my exact shortcuts, UI layout, and feature set, tailored for my project’s needs," he says. Valient acknowledges AI’s double‑edged sword. While the technology is powerful, it can also produce erratic results if left unchecked.
Immens therefore emphasizes transparency and control: users can inspect the engine’s decision history, reproduce outcomes, and build custom utilities that fit precise creative problems. He gives an example of generating five characters with specific traits in the time it once took weeks—now achievable over a coffee break, with the resulting tool reusable for future tasks. Flexibility is a core design principle.
De Jong stresses that Immens does not impose a single workflow; developers decide how much AI to employ and where. The architecture is deliberately open, supporting text‑based file formats that any tool can read. This openness enables seamless integration with industry staples like Blender, Maya, or other generative pipelines. "When files are human‑readable, the AI can parse and manipulate them, creating smarter interfaces across the entire toolchain," Brussee notes.
The broader AI debate in game development is heated. Critics on platforms such as LinkedIn warn of a future where entire AAA experiences could be conjured with a single prompt, sparking fears of de‑skilling and homogenization. Immens acknowledges the hype but frames AI as an augmenting tool rather than a replacement. Valient believes AI will make developers better, not obsolete, and stresses responsible usage.
"Every tool can be misused; it’s our duty to steer it toward positive outcomes," he says. Economic anxieties also surface, with many questioning whether AI‑focused startups are riding a bubble.
Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era: while many companies vanished, the underlying internet persisted and flourished. He argues that Immens’ focus on building a genuinely useful engine—leveraging AI to accelerate development—will help it survive regardless of market froth. Funding remains modest. Immens has secured initial commitments but has not disclosed amounts, describing the capital sought as “reasonable.” Brussee cautions against over‑funding, noting that excess cash can breed complacency.
The company intentionally remains lean—just the three founders and a handful of helpers—to stay agile and scrappy. Currently, Immens is racing toward a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases AI‑driven editing workflows, slated for release this month. The team started in April and already feels they are moving twice as fast as anticipated.
While the precise business model is still evolving, Brussee admires Epic’s revenue‑share philosophy but admits it’s too early for firm commitments. Ultimately, the founders hope Immens will empower creators to take bigger creative risks and push the medium forward. "We love games and want to see more daring, artistic expression," Brussee concludes.
"If our technology can lower barriers and inspire innovation, that would be amazing."