For many years, Unity and Unreal have reigned supreme in the world of game creation, together powering roughly seventy percent of the titles that appeared on Steam in 2025. While Godot has enjoyed a surge of interest lately and large studios continue to rely on proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example—the market has largely settled into a duopoly dominated by the two giants. Enter Immens, a fledgling company founded by three seasoned veterans: Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient.
Their résumés read like a who's‑who of the industry, with experience at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple. Together they argue that the current engine landscape still has room for a fresh contender and, more importantly, for meaningful improvement.
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 building a next‑generation engine from scratch seemed impossible,” he said. “Now, thanks to AI‑assisted programming, we can start from a clean slate and still get functional features up quickly, under tight guidance and control.” Valient, Immens’ chief technology officer, clarified that the AI they employ is not the kind that merely generates art from prompts. “Our AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make it highly extensible,” he noted.
“Because AI can reason over large codebases, we can design the system so that even solo developers or tiny teams can add deep customizations—like a bespoke particle system—without being limited to simple scripting layers.” This approach, he argues, lets creators extend the engine at a pace previously reserved for large studios. The motivation behind Immens is rooted in the harsh economic reality of modern game development. Brussee described the current climate as “rough,” pointing out that production costs keep climbing and the risk of failure is higher than ever.
“We need new workflows that shrink budgets, reduce team sizes, and shorten timelines,” he said. “Otherwise developers keep betting their livelihoods on projects that may never see the light of day.” De Jong, the chief product officer, echoed this sentiment, observing that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated. While that consolidation has provided a stable foundation, he believes the industry now requires genuine innovation rather than incremental tweaks.
“Continuing to do exactly what we’ve always done won’t solve the challenges we face,” he asserted. “We need a different paradigm.” One of the criticisms De Jong levels at existing engines is their monolithic nature.
Developers are forced to adapt to proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines. By contrast, Immens aims to be a chameleon that bends to the user’s needs, thanks to AI‑driven flexibility.
“You should be able to swap components, append new modules, or craft entirely custom tools that match your personal workflow,” he explained. “Imagine building an interface with the exact shortcuts, features, and layout that your team requires—nothing more, nothing less.” Valient also warned that AI, while powerful, can misbehave if left unchecked.
To mitigate this, Immens is built with transparency in mind: users can see exactly what the engine is doing, review its decision history, and reproduce results reliably. “When you need to generate five characters with a specific trait, you used to spend weeks planning and coding,” he said. “Now you could sketch the idea over coffee, let the AI produce a prototype, and reuse that tool as many times as needed before discarding it.
That kind of rapid iteration used to be prohibitively expensive.” Flexibility is baked into the core architecture. De Jong emphasized that Immens does not impose a single workflow; developers decide how much AI to incorporate and where.
“The framework is deliberately open so you can choose the level of automation that suits you,” he said. “The key is ensuring the AI interprets your intent correctly.” Interoperability is another pillar of the platform.
By embracing open, text‑based standards, Immens can communicate seamlessly with popular tools such as Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI pipeline. “When files are human‑readable, any system can parse them,” Brussee explained. “That means the engine can ingest assets directly, and the AI can manipulate them without a proprietary barrier. This openness is a stark departure from many engines that act as closed ecosystems.” The conversation around AI in game development is polarized.
Some commentators on LinkedIn hype the notion of “click‑to‑game” engines that could conjure a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience from a single prompt. Immens’ team acknowledges that such a vision might eventually be possible, but they stress that AI should be viewed as a tool, not a replacement for creativity. “AI will make everyone better, not replace the artist,” Valient said.
“It’s disruptive, which is why it feels threatening now, but responsible use can drive the medium forward.” Economic anxieties also linger, especially concerns that AI‑focused startups are inflating a bubble. Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era: the internet didn’t vanish, but many over‑hyped companies did.
“We’re not betting on hype; we’re building a solid engine that leverages AI to accelerate development,” he said. “Whether the market is a bubble is unknown, but good technology tends to survive.” Funding remains modest. Immens has secured its first round of commitments, though the founders have not disclosed exact figures, describing the amount as “reasonable.” Brussee warned against excess capital, noting that too much money can breed complacency. “Startups need to stay scrappy,” he laughed.
“Being lean forces you to make better decisions.” The company’s headcount reflects this philosophy: only the three founders and a handful of helpers are currently on board. De Jong explained the balancing act of building a complex engine with a small team. “You can’t throw a million engineers at the problem and expect miracles,” he said. “You need a focused group that iterates, learns, and makes deliberate choices.
At the same time, there’s a narrow window of opportunity as AI reshapes the industry. We must hit that sweet spot before it passes.” Immens is racing toward a proof‑of‑concept demo that will showcase a complete editing workflow powered by generative AI.
The team plans to release the demo within the month, a timeline that Brussee says is already twice as fast as originally projected. “We aimed for an end‑of‑year milestone when we started in April, and we’re already ahead of schedule,” he noted. The business model is still under discussion.
While Immens admires Epic Games’ revenue‑share approach—where the platform succeeds when developers succeed—Brussee admits it’s too early to lock in a pricing structure. “We’ll figure it out as we grow,” he said. Ultimately, the founders hope Immens will empower creators to push the boundaries of interactive art. “We love games and the complex expressions they enable,” Brussee concluded.
“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.”