For years, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces in game creation, accounting for roughly 70% of all titles released on Steam in 2025. While Godot has made notable strides in recent years and some major studios cling to proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example—the market has largely been monopolized by the two giants. Yet three seasoned veterans, Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient, have launched Immersive Engine (Immens) with the belief that there is still space for a fresh, more adaptable engine.
Their résumés read like a who's‑who of the industry, featuring stints at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple. Now they are ready to take on the status quo. In an 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, you can start building from the ground up again," he said.
"With the right guidance and control, you can create a fully functional system much faster than traditional pipelines." Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, is careful to distinguish the company’s approach to artificial intelligence from the hype‑driven “prompt‑to‑asset” narrative that dominates many discussions today. He emphasizes that Immens isn’t about feeding a model a description and waiting for a finished product.
Instead, the AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make the codebase highly extensible. "AI can reason over massive amounts of data and source code," Valient noted.
"If we design the engine with that capability in mind, even solo developers or tiny teams can plug in new systems—like a custom particle effect—without being limited to a handful of scripts. The AI helps you extend the engine quickly and safely." The motivation behind this AI‑centric engine is rooted in the current economic pressures of game development. Brussee describes the market as "rough" and warns that development costs keep climbing, making it harder for creators to break even.
"We need new ways of working that lower budgets and shrink team sizes without sacrificing quality," he argued. "If we can make the process more efficient, studios won’t have to gamble their entire livelihood on a single title." De Jong, Immens’s chief product officer, points out that the engine landscape has become overly standardized and consolidated. While that consolidation has provided a stable foundation, it also stifles innovation.
"The industry is facing a series of challenges, and simply repeating old methods won’t solve them," he said. "What we need now is genuine innovation, not more of the same." One of De Jong’s main criticisms of existing engines is their monolithic nature.
Developers are forced to conform to proprietary file formats and rigid workflows. With AI, Immens aims to flip that script, offering an engine that molds itself to the developer’s needs. "Flexibility is key," he explained.
"You should be able to swap components, append new modules, or completely rewrite tools to suit your personal workflow. Imagine building a custom UI with shortcuts and features that match exactly how you and your team operate—that’s the kind of freedom we’re targeting." Valient acknowledges that AI is a double‑edged sword. While it is incredibly powerful, it can also behave unpredictably if left unchecked.
"We’re building Immens so that the user stays in the driver’s seat," he said. "You always know what the engine is doing, you can trace its history, and you can reproduce results reliably. This transparency lets you create bespoke tools for specific problems—like generating five characters with a particular trait—in a matter of minutes instead of weeks. Previously, such rapid iteration would have been prohibitively expensive." Immens’s design deliberately avoids imposing a single workflow.
De Jong stresses that the framework and architecture are open‑ended, allowing creators to decide how much AI to integrate and where. "The AI must understand the context correctly, but the choice of when to use it is entirely up to the developer," he said. Interoperability is another pillar of Immens’s philosophy.
By embracing open standards and text‑based file formats, the engine can communicate seamlessly with tools like Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI pipeline. "When files are human‑readable, any software can parse them," Brussee noted.
"That means the AI can read, modify, and generate assets across the entire toolchain without being locked into a proprietary ecosystem. This openness is something many bespoke engines have failed to achieve." The broader conversation about AI in game development is polarized. Some commentators on LinkedIn predict a future where a single prompt can spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience, fueling fears of a "click‑to‑game" era.
Immens’s team acknowledges that such a vision might eventually be possible, but they view AI primarily as a powerful assistant rather than a replacement for human creativity. "AI will make everyone better, not replace them," Valient asserted. "It’s disruptive now, which is why it feels uncomfortable, but that disruption is necessary for progress." De Jong adds a note of responsibility: "We must use AI responsibly. Any tool can be misused, but it’s up to us to guide its application toward positive outcomes." Economic concerns also swirl around the AI boom, with many warning of a bubble of over‑valued startups.
Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era, pointing out that while many companies vanished, the underlying technology— the internet— persisted and reshaped the world. "AI isn’t going away," he said. "What will survive are the products that deliver real value.
Our goal is to build a solid engine; AI simply accelerates our development and expands our imagination. Whether this is a bubble is uncertain, but history shows that useful technology endures beyond the hype." Immens has not disclosed specific funding figures, though the founders mention having secured "first commitments" and that the amount sought is "reasonable." Brussee cautions against excessive capital, noting that too much money can breed complacency.
"Startups need to stay scrappy," he laughed. "Being lean forces you to make smarter decisions." The company remains tiny—just the three founders plus a handful of helpers—by design. De Jong explains that building an engine is a complex undertaking that cannot be rushed by throwing a massive team at it.
"You need a small, focused group to iterate, make tough decisions, and gradually evolve the product," he said. "At the same time, there’s a narrow window of opportunity as AI reshapes the industry. Balancing funding, talent, and timing is the trade‑off we’re navigating." Immens is currently targeting a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a complete editing workflow powered by generative AI, with a release slated for later this month. Brussee admits that the timeline has already outpaced their original expectations.
"We started in April and thought we’d be ready by year‑end. We’re already twice as fast as we projected, which makes it hard to predict future milestones," he remarked.
The business model remains under discussion. While Immens admires Epic’s revenue‑share philosophy—"we succeed when you succeed"—the team believes it’s too early to commit to a specific pricing structure. "We’re still exploring the best way to align incentives with developers," Brussee said. Ultimately, the founders hope Immens will enable creators to push the medium forward.
"We love games and the complex artistic expression they represent," Brussee concluded. "We want to see more risk‑taking, more creativity, and more innovation built on technology that empowers rather than restricts. If our engine can help make that happen, it would be amazing."