For many years, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces in game creation, together powering roughly 70% of the titles that appeared on Steam in 2025. While Godot has enjoyed a surge in popularity and some major studios cling to proprietary solutions such as Capcom’s RE Engine, the market has largely been a duopoly. Against this backdrop, three seasoned developers—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—have launched Immers, a new AI‑augmented engine that they believe can carve out a fresh niche and raise the overall standard of the industry. The founders bring a résumé that reads like a roll call of the biggest names in interactive entertainment.
Brussee helped build the original Doom engine and later co‑founded Guerrilla Games, De Jong has been a lead architect at Epic Games, and Valient has spent time at Apple and other high‑tech firms. Their combined experience spans the creation of blockbuster franchises, the design of cutting‑edge tools, and the management of large‑scale software projects. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee argued that the timing is now right for a new engine because “the landscape has changed in ways that didn’t exist a few years ago.” A key differentiator, according to the team, is the integration of artificial intelligence not as a gimmick but as a structural advantage.
Valient, Immers’ chief technology officer, stresses that the AI components are built to make the engine itself more extensible. “AI can reason over massive code bases and data sets,” he explains. “If we design the core architecture with that capability in mind, even a solo developer can add a custom particle system, a bespoke animation pipeline, or any other feature without being limited to a narrow scripting layer.” In practice, this means the engine can suggest code snippets, automatically refactor modules, or generate boilerplate assets while still giving the user full visibility and control over every change.
The motivation behind Immers is also deeply rooted in the current economic pressures facing game studios. Brussee describes the environment as “rough,” noting that production budgets keep inflating and the risk of financial failure is climbing. “We need new ways of working that lower costs, shrink team sizes, and accelerate timelines,” he says. The trio believes AI‑driven automation can help break the cycle of ever‑growing expenses by handling repetitive tasks—such as generating variations of characters or populating environments—so that creators can focus on higher‑level design decisions.
De Jong, the chief product officer, points out that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated. While this has provided a solid foundation, it also stifles innovation.
“The industry is at a crossroads,” he observes. “Continuing to rely on monolithic, one‑size‑fits‑all solutions won’t solve the emerging challenges. We need an engine that adapts to the developer, not the other way around.” He criticizes existing engines for forcing developers to conform to proprietary file formats and rigid workflows.
In contrast, Immers is being built to be modular: users can swap out components, append new tools, and tailor the interface to their personal preferences. De Jong envisions a scenario where a developer can craft a custom toolbar with shortcuts and UI elements that match their exact workflow, thereby eliminating the friction that often accompanies large, inflexible engines.
Of course, the team acknowledges that AI is not a silver bullet. Valient warns that the technology can “go off the rails quickly if you don’t pay attention.” To mitigate this, Immers logs every AI‑generated action, preserving a clear history so developers can audit, repeat, or roll back changes as needed. This transparency ensures that the creative process remains predictable and reproducible, even when AI is used to generate five distinct characters in the time it would previously have taken weeks.
Flexibility is baked into the engine’s architecture. De Jong stresses that Immers does not impose a particular workflow; instead, it provides a framework that can be shaped by the user.
Whether a studio wants to lean heavily on AI for asset creation or use it sparingly for code assistance, the engine can accommodate those preferences. Moreover, Immers embraces open standards, allowing seamless interoperability with tools like Blender, Maya, or any text‑based asset pipeline. “When files are human‑readable, any system can ingest them,” Brussee notes. “Our AI can parse those files, manipulate them, and communicate with other software without proprietary roadblocks.” This openness is intended to foster a more collaborative ecosystem, reducing the isolation that often plagues closed‑source engines.
The broader conversation about AI in game development is polarized. Some commentators on platforms like LinkedIn predict a future where entire AAA experiences can be conjured with a single prompt—a vision that many find unsettling. Immers’ founders temper such hype by framing AI as a powerful tool rather than a replacement for human creativity.
Valient believes that AI will elevate the overall skill level of developers, making “big games and everything in between possible because AI made everybody better.” De Jong adds a note of responsibility, reminding the industry that any technology can be misused, but it is up to creators to steer it toward positive outcomes. Economic anxieties also swirl around AI, with critics labeling the sector a bubble prone to overvaluation. Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era, arguing that while many companies will fade, the underlying technology endures. “AI isn’t disappearing; it’s becoming the infrastructure of the next generation of software,” he says.
Immers aims to be a durable, high‑quality engine that leverages AI to accelerate development without relying on speculative hype. Funding for Immers remains modest. The company has secured its “first commitments” but has not disclosed the exact amount, describing it as “reasonable.” Brussee cautions against excessive capital, noting that too much money can breed complacency. The team prefers to stay lean—just the three founders and a handful of helpers—so they can iterate quickly and make thoughtful decisions without the pressure of massive headcounts.
Currently, Immers is targeting a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow. The goal is to release this demo within the month, a timeline that has already outpaced the founders’ original expectations. While the long‑term business model is still under discussion, Brussee admires Epic’s “we succeed when you succeed” licensing approach but admits it’s too early to commit. In the end, the trio hopes their engine will rekindle creativity and risk‑taking in the medium they love.
“We want to see more innovation, more daring artistic expression,” Brussee says. “If Immers can help developers push the boundaries of what games can be, that would be amazing.”