For many years, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces behind game development, accounting for roughly 70% of all titles released on Steam in 2025. While open‑source alternatives like Godot have gained traction, and a handful of major studios continue to rely on proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a notable example—the market has largely been monopolized by the two giants. Enter Immersive, a startup founded by three seasoned veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—who believe there is still space for a fresh engine and, more importantly, for a better way to build games.
Their résumés read like a roll call of industry heavyweights: experience at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple. Together they aim to challenge the status quo. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a new platform.
"A couple of years ago the idea of an AI‑enhanced engine didn’t really exist," he said. "Now, with AI‑assisted programming, we can start from a clean slate again and deliver full‑featured tools much faster under tight guidance and control." Valient, Immersive’s chief technology officer, clarified that the AI they employ is not the kind that simply generates assets from a text prompt. "Our AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make it highly extensible," he noted. "Because AI can analyse massive codebases and data, we design the engine so that even a solo developer can plug in custom systems—like a bespoke particle effect—without being limited to a narrow scripting layer.
The goal is to let creators extend the engine quickly and safely." The motivation behind this ambitious project stems from the current climate of game development, which Brussee describes as "rough." Development costs keep climbing, making it increasingly difficult for small teams to survive. "We need new working methods that cut costs, shrink team sizes, and shorten timelines," he argued. "Otherwise studios risk their livelihoods on projects that may never see the light of day." De Jong, Immersive’s chief product officer, observed that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated. While that consolidation provides a stable foundation, it also stifles innovation.
"The industry now faces a suite of challenges, and repeating the old playbook won’t solve them," he said. "We need fresh ideas, not more of the same." A key criticism of existing engines is their monolithic nature. Developers must conform to proprietary file formats and rigid workflows. De Jong envisions an engine that bends to the user’s needs instead.
"Flexibility is essential," he explained. "You should be able to swap components, add new tools, and tailor the interface to your exact workflow—down to the shortcuts you prefer. The engine should become a canvas you shape, not a cage you adapt to." Valient also warned that AI, while powerful, can misbehave if left unchecked.
"We’re building Immersive so that users retain full visibility and control over what the AI does," he said. "You can trace its actions, reproduce them, and create disposable tools for specific tasks—like generating five characters with a unique trait in minutes instead of weeks.
This level of control turns what used to be expensive, time‑consuming work into a rapid, iterative process." The platform is deliberately engineered to avoid imposing a single workflow. De Jong emphasized that teams can decide how much AI to integrate and where. "Our architecture is modular; you pick the AI components that make sense for your project and leave the rest untouched.
The challenge is ensuring the AI understands the context correctly, and we’re focusing heavily on that." Interoperability is another pillar of Immersive’s design. By adopting open, text‑based standards, the engine can communicate seamlessly with tools like Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI pipeline. "When files are human‑readable, any system can parse them," Brussee said. "That means the AI can read, modify, and exchange data across the whole production stack without the friction that proprietary engines often introduce." The broader AI debate in game development is heated.
Some pundits on LinkedIn hype the notion of "click‑to‑game" experiences, claiming a single prompt could spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑scale world. Immersive acknowledges that such extremes are speculative, viewing AI primarily as a productivity enhancer. "AI will make everyone better, not replace the creative process," Valient asserted. "It has a negative stigma now because it’s disrupting at a scale no one has seen before, but it’s still just a tool." Economic concerns also loom.
Critics label the AI boom a bubble with inflated valuations. Valient compared it to the dot‑com era: the internet didn’t disappear, only the unsustainable businesses did. "Our focus is on building a solid engine; AI merely accelerates our vision. Whether the market is a bubble is unknown, but history shows valuable technology survives the shake‑out." Funding remains modest.
Immersive has secured its "first commitments" but has not disclosed amounts, describing them as "reasonable." Brussee cautioned against over‑capitalization, noting that excessive cash can breed complacency. "Startups need to stay scrappy; too much money can make you lazy," he joked. The team itself is tiny—just the three founders plus a handful of helpers—by design. De Jong explained that a massive staff wouldn’t necessarily speed up engine development; instead, a focused, iterative approach yields better decisions.
Yet they also recognize a narrow window of opportunity as AI reshapes the industry, so they must balance lean operations with sufficient resources to capture that moment. Currently, Immersive is racing toward a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow, slated for release this month. Brussee noted that the project, which began in April, is already moving twice as fast as initially projected.
"Timelines are fluid, but we’re clearly ahead of schedule," he said. As for the business model, Immersive admires Epic’s "we succeed when you succeed" philosophy but admits it’s too early to define specifics.
The ultimate ambition, according to Brussee, is to empower creators to push the medium forward. "We love games as an art form and want to see more risk‑taking, more creativity. If our technology can help make that happen, it would be amazing," he concluded.