For years, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces behind the majority of games released on platforms like Steam—accounting for roughly 70 % of titles in 2025. While open‑source options such as Godot have begun to gain traction, most large studios still cling to proprietary solutions, exemplified by Capcom’s in‑house RE Engine.
The market, however, is not completely closed. Three seasoned industry veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—believe there is still space for a fresh engine that addresses the shortcomings of the current landscape. The trio’s résumé reads like a who’s‑who of game development: experience at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple.
Their new venture, Immens, is set to challenge the status quo with an engine built around artificial intelligence. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right: "There’s an opportunity now to build a new engine that didn’t exist a couple of years ago. With AI‑assisted programming, you can start building things from scratch again, under guided control, and achieve full functionality much faster." Valient, Immens’ chief technology officer, clarifies that the AI they employ is not the "prompt‑to‑output" variety that dominates headlines.
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 says.
"If we design the engine with that in mind, even solo developers or tiny teams can extend it beyond simple scripting. Want a custom particle system? You can add it directly, and the AI helps you integrate it quickly." The motivation behind this AI‑centric approach stems from the increasingly hostile economics of game development.
Brussee describes the current climate as "rough" and warns that production costs are spiralling upward, making it harder for small studios to survive. "We need new, more efficient ways of working that lower costs, reduce team sizes, and speed up timelines," he argues. The goal is to break the cycle where developers risk their livelihoods on ever‑larger budgets.
De Jong, Immens’ chief product officer, points out that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated. While this has provided a solid foundation, he believes the industry now demands genuine innovation rather than incremental improvements. "The monolithic approach of existing engines forces developers to adapt to proprietary file formats and rigid workflows," he says.
"With AI, we can create an engine that adapts to the developer, not the other way around." Flexibility is a core tenet of Immens. De Jong envisions a system where users can interchange, append, or modify components at will, crafting bespoke tools that match their personal workflows. "I can build an interface with the exact shortcuts, features, and layout that my team needs," he explains. This level of customization, powered by AI, aims to make the development process as fluid as the creative ideas behind it.
Valient acknowledges that AI is a double‑edged sword: it is powerful but can veer off course if left unchecked. To mitigate this, Immens is designed to keep developers in the driver’s seat. "You always know what the engine is doing, you can trace its history, and you can reproduce results reliably," he says. This transparency allows teams to create disposable tools for specific tasks—such as generating five characters with a particular trait—in a matter of minutes, a process that once took weeks.
The architecture deliberately avoids imposing a single workflow. De Jong stresses that teams decide how much AI to incorporate and where to apply it. The engine also embraces open standards, meaning that text‑based files can be read and manipulated by any compatible software.
"If you’re using Blender, Maya, or any generative tool, you can plug it directly into Immens because everything speaks the same open‑standard language," Brussee notes. This openness counters the usual isolation of proprietary engines and fosters smoother integration across the development pipeline. Despite the excitement, there is notable backlash against AI in game creation, often fueled by sensational claims that a simple prompt could spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑level experience.
Immens’ founders view such "click‑to‑game" fantasies as distant possibilities, emphasizing that AI should be seen as a tool that amplifies human creativity rather than replaces it. "AI makes everyone better, but the art still comes from people," Valient says.
Economic concerns also linger, with many questioning whether AI‑focused startups are part of a bubble. Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era, arguing that while some companies will fail, the underlying technology endures.
"AI isn’t going away. The internet survived its bubble, and so will AI‑driven tools that prove genuinely useful," he asserts. Funding remains modest. Immens has secured its "first commitments" but has not disclosed exact figures, describing the amount as "reasonable." Brussee warns against excessive capital, noting that too much money can breed complacency.
The company deliberately remains lean—just the three founders and a handful of helpers—to stay scrappy and focused. Building an engine is a complex, long‑term endeavor, and Immens is aware of the need to balance team size with speed. De Jong explains that a small, dedicated group can make critical decisions more efficiently than a massive staff, yet they must also secure enough resources to hit the market window created by the AI wave. Immens is currently developing a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow, slated for release within the month.
The timeline has already outpaced their original expectations: "We thought we’d need until the end of the year, but we’re already twice as fast," Brussee remarks. The business model is still evolving. While Immens admires Epic’s revenue‑share philosophy—"we succeed when you succeed"—they consider it premature to commit to a specific approach.
Ultimately, the founders hope their engine will empower creators to push the medium forward, fostering more risk‑taking, artistic expression, and innovation. "We love games and want to see more daring, creative work.
If our technology can help make that happen, it would be amazing," concludes Brussee.