For more than a decade, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces behind the majority of titles released on platforms such as Steam, accounting for roughly 70 % of the 2025 catalog. While open‑source alternatives like Godot have gained traction and some studios cling to proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a notable example—the market has largely settled into a duopoly.
Against this backdrop, three seasoned industry veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—have decided that there is still room for a fresh, more adaptable engine. Their startup, Immens, is built around the belief that modern AI tools can reshape how game engines are constructed and used. The founders bring a résumé that reads like a who's‑who of game development.
Brussee cut his teeth at Epic Games, the creators of Unreal, and later helped shape titles at Guerrilla Games and Boss Key. De Jong’s background includes senior roles at Apple and other leading studios, while Valient has deep technical experience in engine architecture.
Together they argue that the current generation of engines, while powerful, suffers from a “monolithic approach” that forces developers to bend their workflows to the engine’s constraints rather than the other way around. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a new engine because AI‑assisted programming now makes it feasible to rebuild core systems from the ground up without the massive overhead that would have been required just a few years ago.
“With AI‑supported coding you can start from scratch again, but with far more guidance and control,” he said. The promise is not that AI will magically generate a complete game with a single prompt, but that it will enable developers to prototype, iterate, and extend engine features far more quickly. Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, clarified that the AI embedded in the platform is not a generative chatbot that spits out code on demand.
Instead, it is an analytical engine that can understand the existing codebase, reason about dependencies, and suggest extensions that are safe and maintainable. “If we design the architecture with AI in mind, even a solo developer can add a custom particle system or a bespoke physics module without having to rewrite large sections of core code,” he explained. This extensibility is meant to empower smaller teams to tailor the engine to their specific artistic and technical needs, reducing reliance on opaque scripting layers. The motivation behind Immens is also economic.
Brussee described the current development climate as “rough,” noting that production budgets are ballooning and the risk of financial failure is rising for independent studios. “We need new ways of working that cut costs, shrink team sizes, and accelerate timelines,” he argued. De Jong echoed this sentiment, pointing out that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated, offering a solid foundation but little room for innovation.
“The industry is at a crossroads; continuing on the same path won’t solve the challenges we face. We need a different, more flexible paradigm,” he said. Flexibility is a recurring theme in the Immers interview.
De Jong criticized the “monolithic” nature of existing engines, where developers must adapt to proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines. He envisions an engine where users can interchange modules, append new tools, and modify interfaces to suit personal workflows. “I can build a toolset that matches my background, with the exact shortcuts, UI layout, and features my team requires,” he said. This level of customization, combined with AI‑driven assistance, aims to make the development process more intuitive and less error‑prone.
Valient warned, however, that AI is a double‑edged sword. While it can accelerate development, it can also produce unexpected results if not carefully supervised.
Immens therefore emphasizes transparency: developers will always see what the AI is doing, have access to its decision history, and retain full control over the final output. This auditability is intended to keep the creative process reliable and repeatable, even when AI shortcuts are employed. Immens’s architecture is deliberately open. By relying on text‑based, standards‑compliant file formats, the engine can interoperate with popular tools such as Blender, Maya, and other generative pipelines.
Brussee highlighted that when files are human‑readable, AI can parse and manipulate them directly, fostering smoother integration across the toolchain. This openness contrasts with many existing engines that act as closed ecosystems, making it difficult to plug in external assets or workflows. The broader conversation around AI in game development is fraught with hype and fear. Some commentators on platforms like LinkedIn claim that AI will soon allow anyone to generate a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience with a single prompt.
Immens’s team acknowledges that “click‑to‑game” scenarios may eventually emerge, but they stress that, for now, AI should be viewed as a powerful assistant rather than a replacement for human creativity. "AI makes everyone better, not the sole creator," Valient said, noting the technology’s disruptive reputation. Economic anxieties also linger. Critics worry that AI‑focused startups are part of a speculative bubble, with inflated valuations that may not survive a market correction.
Valient likened the situation to the dot‑com era: while many companies vanished, the underlying internet technology persisted and flourished. He believes Immens’s focus on building a genuinely useful engine—rather than chasing hype—positions it to weather any downturn. Funding remains modest.
Immens has secured its first round of commitments but has not disclosed the exact amount, describing it as “reasonable.” Brussee cautioned against over‑funding, noting that excess capital can breed complacency and reduce the scrappy mindset that drives innovation. The company remains a lean operation: the three founders plus a handful of helpers, deliberately keeping the team small to maintain agility. Development is already moving faster than anticipated.
The team set out in April to create a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow. They originally projected a year‑long timeline, yet they expect to release the demo within the current month—effectively doubling their projected speed. This rapid progress serves as an early validation of their AI‑centric approach. Business‑model discussions are still in their infancy.
While Immens admires Epic Games’ revenue‑share model—"we succeed when you succeed"—the founders admit it is too early to commit to a specific pricing strategy. Their primary goal remains to deliver an engine that empowers creators, reduces costs, and encourages risk‑taking in game design.
In summary, Immens aims to break the cycle of ever‑increasing development costs by offering an AI‑enhanced, highly extensible, and open‑standard engine. By putting control back in the hands of developers—whether a solo indie or a small studio—the trio hopes to spark a new wave of creativity and innovation in the industry.
If successful, their platform could become a catalyst for more diverse, affordable, and experimental games, fulfilling the founders’ vision of a future where technology serves imagination rather than constraining it.