Unity and Unreal have long been the dominant forces in game development, accounting for roughly 70% of the titles released on Steam in 2025. While Godot has made notable strides recently and some major studios cling to proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine, for example—the market has largely been a duopoly.
Into this landscape step three industry veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—who believe there is still room for a fresh engine that addresses the shortcomings of the current offerings. The trio’s résumé reads like a who’s‑who of modern gaming: experience at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple. Their new venture, Immens, aims to leverage recent advances in artificial intelligence to build a development platform that is both highly extensible and friendly to small teams.
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right: “A few years ago the idea of an AI‑assisted engine didn’t make sense. Now, with AI‑supported programming, you can start building from scratch again while still keeping tight control over the process.” He envisions a tool that can deliver full functionality quickly, without the heavy‑weight bureaucracy that often slows down larger engines. Valient, Immens’ chief technology officer, clarified that the AI they are integrating is not the kind of “prompt‑to‑asset” magic that dominates headlines.
Instead, the AI is designed to make the engine itself more modular and adaptable. “If we construct the codebase with AI reasoning in mind, even solo developers can extend the engine beyond simple scripting.
Want a custom particle system? You can plug it in directly,” he said. This approach is intended to let creators use AI as a productivity booster, not as a replacement for human creativity.
The motivation behind Immens is rooted in the current economic pressures of game development. Brussee described the environment as “rough,” noting that production costs keep rising and the risk of financial ruin for small studios is increasing. “We need new ways of working that lower costs, speed up timelines, and let teams of a handful build high‑quality experiences,” he argued.
De Jong, the chief product officer, pointed out that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated. While this has given developers a solid foundation, it also means the industry is less inclined to experiment. “We’re at a point where continuing to do things the same way won’t cut it.
Innovation, not further standardisation, is what the market needs,” he asserted. A key criticism of existing engines is their monolithic nature. Developers often have to conform to proprietary file formats and rigid workflows.
De Jong believes AI can flip this script by creating an engine that adapts to the user rather than forcing the user to adapt to it. “Flexibility is essential. You should be able to swap components, add new tools, and tailor the interface to match your personal workflow,” he explained. He gave a personal example of building a bespoke toolset that reflects his own background and the exact shortcuts his team requires.
Valient acknowledged that AI, while powerful, can misbehave if left unchecked. To mitigate this, Immens is being built with transparency and control at its core.
“You’ll always know what the engine is doing, why it made a decision, and you can reproduce the results,” he said. This auditability is crucial for developers who need reliable pipelines, especially when AI is used to generate assets or automate repetitive tasks.
The team also stresses that Immens will not impose a single workflow. “It’s up to you how much AI you incorporate and where you place it in your pipeline,” De Jong noted. The architecture is deliberately open, allowing developers to decide the balance between manual control and AI assistance.
Interoperability is another pillar of Immens’ design. By embracing open standards and text‑based file formats, the engine can communicate seamlessly with tools like Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI system.
“When files are readable as plain text, any program can parse them. This makes it trivial to plug in external software and keep everything in sync,” Brussee said. He argued that many current engines act as closed ecosystems that hinder such integration.
The broader industry conversation around AI is polarized. Some hype‑driven voices on LinkedIn claim that a single prompt could soon spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience. Immens’ founders are more measured. While they acknowledge that a “click‑to‑game” future might eventually emerge, they view AI primarily as an accelerator for human creators.
“AI makes everyone better, but it remains a tool—not a replacement for talent,” Valient emphasized. Economic concerns also linger, especially regarding the AI boom’s valuation bubble. Valient compared the situation to the dot‑com era: “The internet didn’t disappear when the bubble burst; many companies fell, but the underlying technology persisted. We’re focusing on building a solid engine; AI simply helps us iterate faster and dream bigger.” Funding for Immens is still in an early stage.
The founders have secured initial commitments but have not disclosed amounts, describing the target as “reasonable.” Brussee warned against excessive capital, noting that too much money can breed complacency. “Startups need to stay scrappy; otherwise you lose the edge that drives innovation,” he laughed.
The company remains lean—just the three founders and a handful of helpers. This small size is intentional, as De Jong explained: “Building an engine is complex, but you don’t need a thousand engineers.
A focused team can make thoughtful decisions and move quickly, especially given the narrow window of opportunity created by AI’s rise.” Immens is currently developing a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow, slated for release later this month. Brussee revealed that the project, which began in April, is already progressing at double the speed originally projected, underscoring the productivity gains they anticipate. Regarding the business model, Brussee said they admire Epic’s “we succeed when you succeed” philosophy but are not ready to make definitive statements.
The ultimate goal, he concluded, is to empower creators to push the boundaries of interactive art. “We love games, we love the complex expressions they enable, and we want to see more risk‑taking and creativity. If our technology can help make that happen, it would be amazing.”