For many years the game‑development landscape has been dominated by two heavyweight engines: Unity and Unreal. In fact, by 2025 roughly seventy percent of titles released on Steam were built with one of those platforms.
While open‑source alternatives like Godot have enjoyed a surge of interest, and some large studios continue to rely on proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a notable example—the market has largely settled into a duopoly. Enter Immersive Innovations, better known as Immens, a fledgling studio founded by three industry veterans: Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient. Their résumés read like a who’s‑who of game‑tech leadership, with stints at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple. Together they believe there is still room for a fresh engine that addresses the shortcomings of today’s dominant tools.
In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a new platform. “A few years ago the idea of an AI‑enhanced engine simply wasn’t feasible,” he said. “Now, with AI‑assisted programming, we can start from a clean slate and deliver full‑featured functionality much faster, while still keeping developers in the driver’s seat.” Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, clarified that the AI they are integrating is not the sort of generative “prompt‑to‑asset” magic that dominates headlines.
Instead, the AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make the codebase highly extensible. “If we design the engine with AI reasoning in mind, smaller teams—or even solo creators—can plug in custom systems, like a bespoke particle engine, without wrestling with opaque scripting layers,” he explained.
This approach aims to let developers extend the engine quickly, leveraging AI as a productivity catalyst rather than 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 are spiraling upward and making it increasingly difficult for independent studios to survive.
“We need new ways of working that cut costs, reduce team size, and accelerate timelines,” he said. “If we can break that cycle, we protect livelihoods and give creators more freedom to experiment.” De Jong, the chief product officer, observed that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated.
While that consolidation has provided a solid technical foundation, it has also stifled innovation. “The industry faces a host of challenges—rising budgets, talent shortages, and a homogenized toolset,” he said.
“Continuing down the same path won’t solve those problems. We need a paradigm shift, not just another incremental update.” One of the pain points De Jong highlighted is the monolithic nature of existing engines. Developers often have to conform to rigid file formats and workflows, limiting flexibility. With AI‑driven adaptability, Immens intends to let the engine bend to the developer’s needs.
“You should be able to swap components, append new modules, and craft custom tools that match your personal workflow,” he said. “Imagine a designer who can build an interface with exactly the shortcuts, features, and layout that suit their project—without waiting for the engine’s next major release.” Valient also warned that AI, while powerful, can misbehave if left unchecked.
Immens therefore emphasizes transparency and control: users can trace every AI decision, view its history, and ensure repeatability. This level of oversight is crucial for creative pipelines where a single misstep can cost weeks of work. “What used to take months of manual effort—like generating five characters with a specific trait—can now be prototyped over a coffee break,” Valient said. “The tool can be used repeatedly and then discarded, dramatically lowering the cost of iteration.” Flexibility is baked into Immens’s design philosophy.
The engine does not enforce a single workflow; instead, it offers a modular architecture that lets teams decide how much AI to incorporate and where. De Jong stressed that the framework must be robust enough to support diverse development styles while still ensuring that the AI understands the context correctly.
Interoperability is another cornerstone of the project. By adopting open, text‑based standards, Immens aims to play nicely with the broader ecosystem of 3D modeling, animation, and asset‑generation tools such as Blender, Maya, and emerging generative platforms. “When files are human‑readable, any tool can parse them,” Brussee explained. “That means the AI can read, modify, and exchange data across applications without proprietary lock‑in.
It’s a big step toward a truly connected pipeline.” The conversation around AI in games is often polarized. Some commentators hype the notion of “click‑to‑game” engines that could conjure a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience from a single prompt.
Immens’s team acknowledges the hype but positions AI as a collaborative assistant rather than a magical shortcut. “AI will make everyone better, not replace them,” Valient asserted. “It’s a tool, and like any tool, it can be used responsibly or misused.
Our job is to guide its ethical application.” Economic anxieties also swirl around the AI boom, with fears of a bubble and inflated valuations. Valient compared the situation to the dot‑com era: the internet didn’t disappear when the bubble burst; many companies simply fell away, leaving the truly valuable ones to thrive.
“We’re focused on building a solid engine first,” he said. “AI accelerates our development and expands our imagination, but the core product must stand on its own merits.” Funding for Immens remains modest.
The founders have secured initial commitments but have not disclosed exact figures, describing the amount as “reasonable.” Brussee cautioned against excessive capital, noting that too much money can breed complacency. “Startups need to stay scrappy,” he laughed.
“A lean team forces you to make tough decisions and prioritize what really matters.” Currently the company consists of the three founders plus a handful of helpers. This lean structure is intentional, as De Jong explained: building an engine is a complex, long‑term endeavor that doesn’t benefit from a massive headcount. “You need a small, focused group to iterate, make design choices, and learn from mistakes,” he said. “At the same time, there’s a narrow window of opportunity as AI reshapes the industry.
We must balance resources to hit that sweet spot.” Immens is racing toward a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow. The team aims to release the demo within the month, a timeline that already outpaces their original end‑of‑year estimate. “We’re moving twice as fast as we thought we would,” Brussee noted, underscoring the acceleration that AI can provide.
The business model is still under discussion. While Immens admires Epic’s “we succeed when you succeed” revenue share, they consider it premature to lock in a specific approach. The ultimate goal, according to Brussee, is to empower creators to push the medium forward.
“We love games as an art form,” he said. “We want to see more risk‑taking, more creativity, and more innovation built on technology like ours. If we can help make that happen, it would be amazing.”