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 rely on proprietary tools—Capcom’s RE Engine being a notable example—the duopoly of Unity and Unreal still dominates the market. Enter Immens, a startup founded by three seasoned industry veterans: Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient. Their résumés span heavyweight names such as 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 that the next generation of tools should be built with artificial intelligence at its core. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a new engine because "the possibilities that AI‑supported programming opens up didn’t exist a few years ago." He believes that, with the right guidance, developers can start from a blank slate and rapidly assemble fully functional systems. "You can get something working fast while still retaining a lot of control," he said.
Valient, Immens’ chief technology officer, clarified that the AI they are integrating is not the typical "prompt‑to‑output" model that dominates headlines. Instead, the AI is designed to make the engine itself more extensible. "Because AI can reason about large codebases and data sets, we can structure the engine so that even a solo developer can plug in a custom particle system, a bespoke animation pipeline, or any other feature without wrestling with rigid scripting constraints," he explained. The goal is to let creators extend the engine quickly, using AI as an accelerator rather than a replacement for traditional programming.
The motivation behind this AI‑centric approach stems from the current economic pressures on game studios. Brussee described the environment as "rough," noting that development costs keep climbing and smaller teams struggle to break even. "We need new ways of working that lower budgets, shrink team sizes, and speed up delivery, so studios aren’t gambling their entire livelihood on a single title," he said. De Jong, the chief product officer, pointed out that the engine market has become increasingly standardized and consolidated.
While that consolidation provides a solid foundation, it also stifles innovation. "The industry is facing a host of challenges, and simply repeating the old playbook won’t solve them.
We need genuine innovation, not more of the same," he asserted. A key criticism of existing engines is their monolithic nature. Developers often have to conform to proprietary file formats and workflows that limit flexibility.
De Jong envisions an engine that adapts to the user, allowing interchangeable modules, custom toolchains, and personalized interfaces. "I can build tools that match my exact workflow—my shortcuts, my UI layout, everything—so my team can work the way we want," he said. Valient acknowledges that AI is powerful but can misbehave if left unchecked.
Immens therefore emphasizes transparency and control: users can see what the engine is doing, review its decision history, and ensure repeatable outcomes. He illustrated this with a hypothetical scenario: instead of spending weeks designing five characters with specific traits, a developer could sketch the idea over coffee, let the AI generate the assets, use the result a handful of times, and then discard the temporary tool.
This dramatically reduces cost and time. Flexibility is baked into Immens’ architecture. The engine does not enforce a single workflow; developers decide how much AI to incorporate and where. De Jong stresses that the underlying framework must be robust enough for users to dictate their own processes while guaranteeing that the AI interprets instructions correctly.
Interoperability is another pillar of the project. By relying on open, text‑based standards, Immens can communicate with common tools like Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI pipeline. "When files are plain text, any program can read them, and the AI can manipulate them too," Brussee explained.
This openness contrasts with many proprietary engines that act as closed ecosystems, hindering seamless integration. The broader AI debate in game development is polarized. Some pundits on LinkedIn hype the notion of creating a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience with a single prompt, fueling fear that AI will replace human creativity. Immens’ team sees a more measured future: AI as an empowering assistant rather than a "click‑to‑game" button.
Valient believes AI will make developers better, even if the technology currently carries negative connotations due to its disruptive scale. Economic anxieties also swirl around AI, with concerns about a valuation bubble. Valient likens the situation to the dot‑com era: the internet didn’t disappear when the bubble burst; only the weaker players fell away.
"We’re focused on building a solid engine; AI simply lets us move faster and think bigger. Whether it’s a bubble is uncertain, but good products survive," he said. Funding remains modest.
Immens has secured its "first commitments" but has not disclosed amounts, describing the target as "reasonable." Brussee warned against over‑funding, noting that excess capital can breed complacency. The company remains lean—just the three founders and a handful of helpers—by design. De Jong explained the balance: a complex engine cannot be built by a massive team overnight, yet timing is crucial to capture the window of AI‑driven industry change. The team is currently developing a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI editing workflow, slated for release later this month.
Their development timeline has already outpaced initial estimates, with progress twice as fast as anticipated. Regarding the business model, Brussee expressed admiration for Epic Games’ revenue‑share approach—"we succeed when you succeed"—but admitted it is too early to commit to a specific strategy. Ultimately, the founders hope Immens will enable creators to push the boundaries of interactive art.
"We love games and want to see more risk‑taking, more creativity, and more innovation built on this technology," Brussee concluded. "If we can help bring that forward, it would be amazing."