For many years, Unity and Unreal have been the go‑to tools for game creators, accounting for roughly 70% of all titles released on Steam in 2025. While open‑source options like Godot have begun to attract attention, and a handful of studios still rely on proprietary solutions such as Capcom’s RE Engine, the market has largely been dominated by the two giants. Enter Immers, a fledgling studio founded by three seasoned veterans – Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient – who believe there is still space for a fresh engine that addresses the shortcomings of the status quo.
Their résumés read like a who’s‑who of the industry: experience at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple. Together they aim to challenge the entrenched players with a platform that leverages artificial intelligence not as a gimmick, but as a core design principle. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right: “A few years ago the idea of an AI‑assisted engine didn’t exist. Now, with AI‑supported programming, you can start building from scratch again, under tight guidance, and get full‑featured results quickly.” Valient, Immers’ chief technology officer, clarified that the company’s use of AI differs from the hype‑driven “prompt‑to‑asset” narrative that dominates many discussions.
“Our AI is about making the engine itself extensible,” he said. “Because AI can reason over large codebases, we design the architecture so that even solo developers or tiny teams can plug in custom systems – a particle system, a new rendering pipeline, anything – without being confined to a limited scripting layer.” This philosophy aims to let creators extend the engine at a deeper level, accelerating iteration while preserving control. The motivation behind Immers is rooted in the current economic pressures of game development.
Brussee described the environment as “rough”: development costs keep climbing, making it harder for small studios to survive. “We need new ways of working that reduce risk, lower budgets, and let teams ship faster,” he argued.
De Jong, the chief product officer, echoed this sentiment, noting that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated. “Standardisation gave us a solid foundation, but now the industry faces challenges that require genuine innovation, not just more of the same.” A key criticism of existing engines, according to De Jong, is their monolithic nature. Developers must adapt to proprietary file formats and rigid workflows. With AI, Immers hopes to flip that script: the engine should adapt to the user.
“Flexibility is essential,” he said. “You should be able to swap components, append new tools, and tailor the interface to your exact workflow – shortcuts, panels, and everything else should match the way you think.” Valient also warned that AI, while powerful, can “go off the rails” if left unchecked. Immers therefore emphasizes transparency and user control. “You always know what the engine is doing, you can trace its history, and you can reproduce results reliably,” he explained.
This level of oversight allows developers to create bespoke tools for specific tasks – for example, generating five characters with a particular trait in minutes rather than weeks – and then discard the temporary workflow once the job is done. Such on‑demand tooling, he believes, could dramatically cut costs. The architecture of Immers is deliberately agnostic.
De Jong stressed that the framework does not impose a single workflow or a fixed amount of AI integration. “You decide how much AI you want, where you want it, and how you want to use it,” he said. To ensure interoperability, the engine relies on open standards and text‑based file formats. Brussee highlighted the advantage: “When files are plain text, any tool can read them.
The AI can parse those files, manipulate them, and communicate with other software like Blender, Maya, or any generative system. Open standards let us build smarter interfaces without the proprietary lock‑in that many engines still enforce.” The broader conversation about AI in games is polarized. Some commentators on LinkedIn hype “click‑to‑game” promises, claiming that a single prompt could spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience. Immers’ team acknowledges that such extremes are unlikely in the near term.
Valient sees AI as a catalyst that makes developers better, not a replacement for creativity. “AI has negative connotations now because it’s disrupting at a scale we haven’t seen before, but it’s still just a tool,” he said. Economic concerns also swirl around AI, with many questioning whether the sector is a bubble.
Valient compared it to the dot‑com era: “The internet didn’t disappear when the bubble burst; many companies fell, but the technology endured. We’re focused on building a solid engine; AI simply accelerates our development and lets us dream bigger.” Funding remains modest. Immers has secured its “first commitments” but has not disclosed amounts, describing them as “reasonable.” Brussee cautioned against excess capital, noting that too much money can breed complacency. The company remains a lean operation – the three founders plus a handful of helpers – to stay scrappy and make decisive choices.
Currently, Immers is racing toward a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow, slated for release later this month. Brussee admitted that the timeline has already outpaced their original expectations: “We thought we’d need until year‑end; we’re now twice as fast.” As for the business model, the team admires Epic’s “we succeed when you succeed” approach but admits it’s too early to commit to a specific revenue strategy.
Ultimately, Brussee hopes Immers will empower creators to push artistic boundaries. “We love games, we love the complex expression of the medium, and we want to see more risk‑taking and creativity. If our technology can help make that happen, that would be amazing.”