For years, the game‑development landscape has been dominated by two heavyweight engines: Unity and Unreal. In 2025, roughly 70 % of Steam releases were built with one of those tools, while the open‑source Godot has been gaining traction and large studios continue to rely on proprietary solutions such as Capcom’s RE Engine. The market, however, is not a monolith. Three industry veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—believe there is still room for a fresh approach, and they are betting on artificial intelligence to make it happen.
The trio founded Immers (stylised as Immens), a startup that aims to deliver an AI‑enhanced game engine tailored for small teams and even solo developers. Their résumés read like a who's‑who of the gaming world: experience at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and Apple. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right: "There’s an opportunity now to build a new engine that didn’t exist a couple of years ago.
With AI‑supported programming, you can start from scratch again and get full‑functionality quickly under tight guidance and control." Valient, Immers’ chief technology officer, is quick to clarify that the AI they employ is not the kind that simply generates assets from a text prompt. Instead, the AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make the codebase highly extensible. "If we design the engine with AI reasoning in mind, even a single developer can extend it beyond simple scripting.
Want a custom particle system? You can add it directly. The AI helps you prototype and integrate those extensions faster," he said.
The motivation behind this ambitious project is the increasingly hostile economics of game creation. Brussee describes the current climate as "rough"—development costs are soaring, budgets are ballooning, and the risk of failure is higher than ever. "We need new ways of working that lower costs and let smaller teams ship games faster," he argued.
De Jong, the chief product officer, echoed that sentiment, noting that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated. While that stability provides a solid foundation, the industry now needs genuine innovation, not just more of the same. One of the biggest pain points with existing engines is their monolithic nature.
Developers must conform to proprietary file formats and workflows that often feel restrictive. De Jong envisions an engine that bends to the user’s needs instead of the other way around.
"Flexibility is key. You should be able to swap components, append new tools, and tailor the interface to your exact workflow.
If I need a shortcut or a custom UI element for my team, I can build it directly into the engine," he explained. Valient is realistic about AI’s limits.
While it can accelerate development dramatically, it can also produce erratic results if left unchecked. "We’re building Immers so that the user stays in control. You always see what the engine is doing, its history, and you can reproduce any step," he said.
This transparency, he believes, will allow developers to create disposable, high‑speed tools—like a one‑off script that generates five characters with specific traits in minutes rather than weeks. Immers’ philosophy is deliberately platform‑agnostic. The engine will rely on open standards and text‑based file formats, making it easy to interoperate with popular tools such as Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI pipeline.
"When files are human‑readable, the AI can parse and manipulate them, and other software can do the same. That openness is a huge advantage over proprietary pipelines that lock you in," Brussee noted. The conversation around AI in game development is often polarized.
Some pundits on LinkedIn hype the idea of “click‑to‑game” engines that could produce a Grand Theft Auto‑level experience from a single prompt. Immers’ team acknowledges that such a vision may eventually be possible, but they stress that AI is a tool, not a magic wand. "AI makes everyone better, but the creative decisions still belong to humans," Valient said.
De Jong added that responsible use is essential: "Any technology can be misused; our job is to guide it toward productive outcomes." Economic concerns also linger. Critics warn that the AI boom could be a bubble, inflating valuations without lasting substance. Valient counters that history shows technology cycles: the dot‑com bubble burst, yet the internet endured and flourished.
"We’re focusing on building a genuinely good engine. AI just helps us move faster and think bigger. Whether the market is a bubble is uncertain, but good products survive," he said.
Funding remains modest. Immers has secured its "first commitments" but has not disclosed amounts, describing the target as "reasonable." Brussee cautions against over‑funding, noting that excess capital can breed complacency. The company currently consists of the three founders plus a handful of helpers, deliberately staying lean to preserve agility.
Development is already ahead of schedule. The team set out in April to create a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow. They anticipated finishing by year‑end, yet the demo is slated for release within weeks—roughly twice as fast as planned. This rapid progress underscores the potential productivity gains that AI can unlock.
As for the business model, Immers admires Epic Games’ philosophy of succeeding when its users succeed, but it remains too early to announce concrete pricing or licensing structures. Ultimately, the founders hope their engine will empower creators to push the boundaries of interactive art.
"We love games and want to see more daring, creative experiences," Brussee concluded. "If our technology can lower the barriers and let developers take bigger risks, that would be amazing for the whole industry."