Unity and Unreal have long held sway over the game‑development landscape, accounting for roughly 70% of Steam releases in 2025. While Godot has enjoyed a surge in popularity and some studios cling to proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine, for example—the duopoly of Unity and Unreal still dominates the market. Against this backdrop, three seasoned veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—have founded Immens with a bold vision: to carve out space for a fresh, AI‑enhanced engine that addresses the shortcomings of existing tools.
The trio’s résumés read like a who’s‑who of the industry, spanning Epic Games (the creator of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and Apple. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee argued that the timing is right for a new engine, noting that "an opportunity now exists that didn’t exist a couple of years ago." He believes AI‑assisted programming can revive the ability to build from the ground up, offering developers rapid, full‑featured prototypes under tight guidance and control. Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, clarifies that the AI component is not about generating content through prompts alone. Instead, the AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make it highly extensible.
"AI can reason about large codebases and data sets," he explains. "If we design the engine with that capability in mind, even solo developers or small teams can plug in custom systems—like a bespoke particle effect—without being limited to superficial scripting." The motivation behind Immens is rooted in the current economic pressures of game development. Brussee describes the market as "rough," with production costs soaring and success becoming increasingly elusive. He asks whether new workflows can break this cycle, reducing budgets, shrinking team sizes, and accelerating timelines so studios aren’t forced to gamble their livelihoods on massive, risky projects.
De Jong, the chief product officer, points out that the engine space has become "standardised and consolidated," providing a solid foundation but stifling innovation. He argues that the industry now faces a series of challenges that cannot be solved by merely iterating on existing solutions.
"We need innovation, not more standardisation," he says. His critique of current engines focuses on their monolithic nature: developers must conform to proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines. With AI, Immens aims to deliver an engine that adapts to the user, allowing interchangeable modules, custom toolchains, and personalized interfaces tailored to a developer’s workflow.
Valient acknowledges AI’s power and its potential pitfalls. He stresses that Immens will keep users in the driver’s seat, offering full transparency and repeatability of AI actions. This control enables developers to create throw‑away tools for specific tasks—such as generating five characters with a particular trait—in minutes rather than weeks, dramatically lowering cost and freeing creative energy. Flexibility is a core tenet of Immens.
De Jong emphasizes that the engine will not impose a single workflow; instead, it will provide a modular architecture where teams decide how much AI to incorporate and where. Open standards also play a crucial role. Brussee notes that text‑based file formats enable any tool—Blender, Maya, or emerging generative applications—to read and write data seamlessly.
By embracing open standards, Immens hopes to avoid the isolation that many proprietary engines suffer, fostering smoother interoperability across the development pipeline. The broader AI debate in gaming is contentious. Some commentators on platforms like LinkedIn hype "click‑to‑game" promises, suggesting that a simple prompt could spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience.
Immens’s founders temper such expectations, viewing AI as a powerful tool rather than a magic wand. Valient believes AI will elevate the entire industry, making developers more capable, while De Jong stresses responsible usage: "Any tool can be misused; it’s our duty to guide it toward positive outcomes." Economic anxieties also surface, with critics warning of an AI bubble inflated by unrealistic valuations. Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era, noting that while many startups vanished, the underlying internet endured and flourished.
He asserts that Immens is focused on building a solid engine first; AI simply accelerates development and expands creative horizons. Whether the market is in a bubble remains uncertain, but the team is confident that a well‑crafted product will survive any downturn. Funding details remain vague. Immens has secured its "first commitments" but has not disclosed amounts, describing them as "reasonable." Brussee warns against excessive capital, which can breed complacency.
The company intentionally remains lean—just the three founders and a handful of helpers—to stay scrappy and agile. Balancing team size with ambition is a delicate act. De Jong notes that building an engine is a complex endeavor that cannot be rushed by hiring a massive workforce. Instead, a small, focused group can make thoughtful decisions and iterate efficiently, especially given the narrow window of opportunity presented by rapid AI advancements.
Immens is currently targeting a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases "the flow of editing something" using generative AI, slated for release this month. Brussee admits the timeline has already outpaced initial expectations, with development moving twice as fast as projected. As for the business model, the team admires Epic’s "we succeed when you succeed" philosophy but admits it is too early to formalise revenue strategies.
Ultimately, the founders hope Immens will catalyse a new wave of creativity and risk‑taking in games. "We love games and want to see more ambitious, artistic expressions," says Brussee. "If our technology can empower developers to innovate and push the medium forward, that would be amazing."