Unity and Unreal have long held sway over the game‑development landscape, accounting for roughly 70% of the titles released on Steam in 2025. While Godot has enjoyed notable growth in recent years and some studios—such as Capcom with its RE Engine—prefer proprietary solutions, the market has largely been a duopoly.
Into this environment step three seasoned industry veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—who have founded Immens with the belief that there is still room for a fresh engine and, more importantly, for a new way of building games. The trio’s résumés read like a who’s‑who of modern game development: experience at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, Apple, and other high‑profile studios.
Their combined expertise gives them a unique perspective on the shortcomings of today’s dominant tools and fuels their ambition to challenge the status quo. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a new engine because "the landscape has changed in ways that didn’t exist a couple of years ago." He argues that AI‑assisted programming now makes it feasible to start building a game engine from the ground up without the massive overhead that previously made such projects prohibitive. "With the right guidance and control, you can create a fully functional system very quickly," he said. Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, clarifies that the AI component is not about generating assets on demand via prompts, a narrative that has become common in popular discourse.
Instead, the AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make the codebase highly extensible. "AI can reason over large codebases and data sets. If we design the engine with that capability in mind, even a solo developer can add a custom particle system or a bespoke gameplay mechanic without wrestling with a rigid, monolithic framework," he explained.
The goal is to let creators harness AI to accelerate extensions, not replace the creative process. The motivation behind Immens is also economic. Brussee describes the current market as "rough" and warns that development costs are spiraling upward, making it increasingly difficult for small teams to survive. "We need new, more efficient ways of working that lower budgets and reduce risk for studios of all sizes," he said.
De Jong, the chief product officer, echoes this sentiment, noting that the engine space has become overly standardized and consolidated. While that standardisation provides a solid foundation, it also stifles innovation.
"The industry now faces a series of challenges, and simply repeating the old methods 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 must adapt to proprietary file formats and workflows that are often inflexible.
Immens aims to flip that script by offering a highly modular system that can be reshaped to fit each developer’s pipeline. De Jong envisions a scenario where a team can craft tools tailored to their specific needs—custom shortcuts, interfaces, and features—without being forced into a one‑size‑fits‑all environment.
Valient acknowledges that AI is a double‑edged sword. While it is "really powerful," it can also go off‑track if left unchecked. Immens therefore places the user firmly in control, providing full transparency over what the AI does, its decision history, and the ability to reproduce results reliably. This level of oversight is crucial for creative workflows, where a developer might need to generate five characters with a particular trait in minutes rather than weeks.
"What used to be an expensive, time‑consuming process can now be a quick, iterative experiment," Valient said. Flexibility is baked into the engine’s DNA. De Jong stresses that Immens does not impose a single workflow; instead, it offers a framework that lets users decide how much AI to incorporate and where. The architecture is built on open standards, meaning files are text‑based and easily readable by other tools.
"If you work with Blender, Maya, or any generative system, you can plug it in because everything speaks the same language," Brussee explained. This openness contrasts with many proprietary engines that act as closed ecosystems, hindering interoperability.
The broader industry conversation around AI is polarized. Some pundits on platforms like LinkedIn hype the idea of "click‑to‑game" experiences, suggesting that a simple prompt could spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑scale world.
Immens’s team cautions against such hype, positioning AI as a powerful assistant rather than a magic wand. Valient believes AI will elevate the skill of every developer, making large‑scale projects more attainable while preserving artistic intent.
Economic anxieties also swirl around AI, with many questioning whether the current surge represents a bubble. Valient draws a parallel 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, using AI to accelerate development, not on speculative hype." He admits that no one can predict a bubble’s burst, but emphasizes that a well‑engineered product will survive regardless of market fluctuations.
Funding remains modest. Immens has secured its first commitments but has not disclosed exact figures, describing the amount as "reasonable." Brussee warns that excess capital can breed complacency, noting that startups need to stay scrappy to succeed. The company currently consists of the three founders plus a handful of helpers, a deliberately lean structure designed to enable rapid decision‑making while avoiding the pitfalls of over‑staffing.
Immens is now targeting a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases AI‑driven editing workflows. The team originally projected a year‑long timeline, yet they are already moving twice as fast, aiming to release the demo within the month. This accelerated progress underscores the practical benefits of AI integration. Regarding the business model, Brussee admires Epic’s "we succeed when you succeed" licensing philosophy but admits it is too early to commit to a specific approach.
Ultimately, the founders hope Immens will empower creators to push the boundaries of interactive art. "We love games and want to see more risk‑taking and creativity in the medium," Brussee concluded. "If our technology can help bring that vision to life, it would be amazing."