For many years, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces behind game creation, accounting for roughly 70% of Steam releases in 2025. While Godot has enjoyed a surge in popularity and some studios still cling to proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a notable example—the market has largely been locked into the duopoly of Unity and Unreal. Enter Immens, a startup founded by three seasoned veterans: Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient.
Their résumés read like a who's‑who of the industry, featuring stints at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and Apple. The trio believes the current landscape still has room for a fresh engine, and more importantly, for a fundamentally better way to build games. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee argued that the timing is now ripe for a new platform that simply didn’t exist a few years ago. "With AI‑assisted programming, we can start building from scratch again," he said.
"Guided by intelligent tools, we can deliver full‑featured functionality much faster than before." Valient, Immens’ chief technology officer, clarified that the AI they employ is not the kind of generative prompt‑to‑image wizardry that dominates headlines. Instead, their AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make it highly extensible. "AI can reason over massive codebases and data sets," he explained.
"If we design the engine with that capability in mind, even a solo developer can plug in a custom particle system, a bespoke animation pipeline, or any other feature without being confined to a limited scripting layer." The motivation behind this AI‑centric approach stems from a grim reality in game development. Brussee described the market as "rough" and warned that production costs are spiraling upward, making it harder for small teams to survive. "We need new, more efficient ways of working," he said.
"If we can lower budgets and shorten timelines, studios won’t have to gamble their entire livelihood on a single title." De Jong, the chief product officer, pointed out that the engine space has become overly standardized and consolidated. While that stability provides a solid foundation, it also stifles innovation. "Continuing to do exactly what we’ve always done won’t solve the challenges we face today," he asserted. "We need a paradigm shift, not another incremental update." One of the pain points De Jong highlighted is the monolithic nature of existing engines.
Developers are forced to adapt to proprietary file formats and rigid workflows. With AI, Immens aims to flip that script, delivering an engine that molds itself to the developer’s needs. "Flexibility is key," he said.
"You should be able to swap components, append new tools, and reshape the interface to match your personal workflow. Imagine a toolset that mirrors your own shortcuts, features, and UI preferences—exactly what your project demands." Valient also cautioned that AI, while powerful, can quickly go off‑track if left unchecked.
Immens therefore emphasizes transparency and control. "When you use our engine, you always know what it’s doing and why," he noted.
"The history of each operation is logged, making the process repeatable and auditable." This level of control unlocks new creative workflows. Tasks that once required weeks of manual effort—like generating five characters with specific traits—can now be prototyped over a coffee break. The resulting tools can be reused, then discarded, dramatically cutting costs. "That kind of rapid iteration was previously unaffordable," Valient said.
"Now it becomes a standard part of the pipeline." Immens is deliberately built to avoid imposing a single workflow on its users. De Jong stressed that developers decide how much AI to incorporate and where to apply it.
The architecture is modular, allowing teams to pick and choose the degree of automation they want while ensuring the AI understands the context correctly. Interoperability is another cornerstone of Immens’ design. By embracing open, text‑based standards, the engine can seamlessly exchange data with tools like Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI system.
"If a file is readable as plain text, any AI can parse and manipulate it," Brussee explained. "Open standards let us create smarter interfaces across the entire toolchain, something proprietary engines have historically resisted." The broader industry remains divided on AI’s role in game creation. Some commentators predict a future where a simple prompt can spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience.
Immens acknowledges that such "click‑to‑game" scenarios might eventually exist, but they view AI primarily as an empowering assistant, not a replacement for human creativity. "AI makes everyone better, not a substitute for talent," Valient asserted. Economic concerns also swirl around the AI boom, with many fearing a bubble of over‑valued startups.
Valient compared the situation to the dot‑com era: the internet didn’t disappear, even though many early companies failed. "Our focus is on building a solid engine; AI just accelerates our vision. Whether the market is a bubble is uncertain, but technology that delivers real value tends to survive." Funding remains modest.
Immens has secured its "first commitments" but has 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," he laughed.
The team itself is tiny—just the three founders and a handful of helpers. This lean structure is intentional, as De Jong explained: "You can’t throw a million engineers at an engine and expect it to work. A small, focused group can make better decisions and iterate faster.
At the same time, we must time our effort to capture the current window of opportunity created by AI’s rise." Immens is currently developing a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a full editing workflow powered by generative AI, slated for release later this month. The timeline has already outpaced their original estimate; what they thought would take until year‑end is now arriving in half that time. Regarding the business model, Brussee said they admire Epic’s "we succeed when you succeed" philosophy but are not ready to make concrete statements yet.
Ultimately, the founders hope Immens will enable creators to push the medium forward, fostering more artistic risk‑taking and innovation. "We love games and want to see more daring, expressive experiences," Brussee concluded. "If our technology helps bring that vision to life, that would be amazing."