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 open‑source alternatives like Godot have made noticeable strides, the market is still largely controlled by proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example.
In this landscape, three seasoned industry veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—believe there is still room for a fresh approach. Their startup, Immersive (Immens), aims to build a next‑generation engine that leverages artificial intelligence to give smaller teams the flexibility and speed traditionally reserved for large studios. The founders bring an impressive résumé: experience at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple.
In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a new engine because "the tools that existed a couple of years ago simply don’t meet today’s needs." He argues that AI‑assisted programming can resurrect the possibility of building a game engine from the ground up, offering rapid, full‑featured functionality without the massive overhead that has become the norm. Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, clarifies 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 it highly extensible.
"If we design the codebase with AI in mind, even a solo developer can add a custom particle system or a bespoke gameplay mechanic without wrestling with opaque scripting layers," he says. This extensibility is intended to let creators focus on their vision while the engine handles the heavy lifting of integration and optimization. The motivation behind Immens is rooted in the current economic pressures of game development.
Brussee describes the market as "rough" and warns that production costs keep climbing, making it harder for independent studios to survive. He asks, "Can we discover new, more efficient ways of working that lower costs and shorten timelines, so developers aren’t risking their livelihoods on massive budgets?" De Jong, the chief product officer, echoes this sentiment, noting that the engine space has become overly standardized and consolidated.
While standardization offers a solid foundation, he believes the industry now needs genuine innovation, not just more of the same. One of the key criticisms De Jong has of existing engines is their monolithic nature. Developers are forced to adapt to proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines. With AI, Immens aims to flip this model, allowing the engine to adapt to the developer’s workflow.
"You should be able to swap components, append new tools, and reshape the interface to match exactly what your project requires," he explains. This level of customization could enable a designer to craft a toolset that mirrors their personal workflow—down to shortcuts, UI layout, and feature set—without waiting for the engine vendor to implement it.
Valient acknowledges that AI is a double‑edged sword. While it can accelerate development dramatically, it can also produce unexpected results if left unchecked. To mitigate this, Immens is built around transparency: users can see exactly what the AI is doing, review its decision history, and ensure repeatable outcomes.
This control is crucial for creative tasks such as generating multiple characters with specific traits, a process that traditionally might take weeks but could now be prototyped over a coffee break. Flexibility is baked into Immens’s core philosophy.
De Jong stresses that the engine does not impose a single workflow; developers decide how much AI to incorporate and where. The architecture is deliberately modular, allowing teams to pick and choose AI‑driven features while retaining full manual control where needed. Interoperability is another pillar of the project.
By adopting open, text‑based standards, Immens ensures that assets from tools like Blender, Maya, or other generative pipelines can be read and manipulated directly by the engine’s AI. "When files are text‑based, any program can parse them, and the AI can act on that data," Brussee notes. This openness contrasts with many current engines that act as closed ecosystems, making cross‑tool integration cumbersome.
The broader conversation around AI in game development is polarized. Some commentators predict a future where entire AAA experiences could be generated from a single prompt—a "click‑to‑game" vision that many see as hype. Immens’s team acknowledges the excitement but frames AI as a powerful assistant rather than a replacement for human creativity.
Valient says, "AI will make everyone better, but it remains a tool. Its current negative perception stems from the disruption it brings at an unprecedented scale." Economic anxieties also surface, with critics labeling the AI boom a bubble.
Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era, asserting that while many AI startups will fade, the underlying technology will endure. "We’re focused on building a solid engine; AI simply accelerates our development and expands what’s possible," he explains.
Whether the market is in a bubble remains uncertain, but the team believes the lasting value lies in a well‑crafted product. Funding for Immens is still in its early stages. The founders have secured initial commitments but have not disclosed exact figures, describing the amount as "reasonable." Brussee warns against excessive capital, noting that too much money can lead to complacency. The company remains lean, consisting of the three founders plus a handful of collaborators, a deliberate choice to stay scrappy and focused.
Immens is currently developing a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases AI‑driven editing workflows. The goal is to release this demo within the month, a timeline that is already twice as fast as their original projection when they launched in April. This rapid progress underscores the potential speed gains AI can provide.
Regarding the business model, Brussee admires Epic Games’ philosophy of sharing success with developers but admits it is too early to commit to a specific approach. Ultimately, the team hopes Immens will empower creators to push artistic boundaries, take risks, and deliver innovative experiences that advance the medium.
In summary, Immens seeks to break the cycle of ever‑increasing development costs by offering an AI‑centric, highly extensible, and open‑standard engine. By giving developers granular control over AI assistance and fostering a flexible workflow, the trio aims to democratize high‑quality game creation and spark a new wave of creativity across the industry.