For many years the game‑development landscape has been dominated by two heavyweight engines: Unity and Unreal. In 2025 they powered roughly seventy percent of all titles released on Steam, while open‑source Godot has been gaining traction and a handful of major studios still cling to proprietary solutions such as Capcom’s RE Engine. Despite this concentration, three industry veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—believe there is still room for a fresh approach. Their new venture, Immens, aims to build an AI‑enhanced engine that lowers costs, accelerates iteration, and gives small teams the creative freedom that the current market often denies.
The founders’ résumés read like a who’s‑who of modern game development. Brussee previously helped shape the original Quake III engine, De Jong spent years at Guerrilla Games working on the Horizon series, and Valient brings experience from Epic Games, Apple, and several indie studios. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee argued that the timing is now right for a novel engine because "the tools that existed a few years ago simply aren’t enough".
He sees AI‑assisted programming as a way to return to the era when developers could start a project from a clean slate and quickly achieve full functionality under tight guidance. Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, stresses that their use of AI is not about generating assets with a single prompt. Instead, the AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make the codebase highly extensible. "If we design the engine with AI in mind, even a solo developer can add a custom particle system or a bespoke gameplay mechanic without wrestling with opaque scripting layers," he explains.
The goal is to let creators extend the engine rapidly, using AI as a reasoning assistant that can navigate large codebases and suggest integrations that would otherwise require weeks of manual work. The motivation behind Immens is rooted in the harsh economic realities of modern game production. Brussee describes the current climate as "rough": development budgets keep inflating, teams grow larger, and the risk of financial ruin rises for anyone without deep pockets.
"We need new ways of working that cut costs, shrink team size, and speed up delivery," he says. De Jong echoes this sentiment, noting that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated. While that consolidation provides a stable foundation, it also stifles innovation. "The industry needs a different approach, not more of the same," he asserts.
One of the biggest criticisms of existing engines is their monolithic nature. Developers must adapt to proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines, which can be a barrier for smaller studios.
Immens intends to flip this model on its head by building an engine that molds itself to the developer’s workflow. De Jong envisions a system where users can swap modules, append new features, and craft tailor‑made tools that match their personal shortcuts, UI preferences, and project‑specific requirements. This flexibility, combined with AI‑driven assistance, aims to make the engine feel like an organic extension of the creator rather than a restrictive framework. Valient acknowledges that AI is a double‑edged sword.
While it can dramatically accelerate tasks—such as generating five unique characters with specific traits in the time it used to take weeks—unchecked AI can also veer off course. Immens therefore places control firmly in the hands of the user: the engine logs its actions, provides a transparent history, and ensures repeatable results.
This level of oversight allows developers to treat AI‑generated tools as disposable prototypes that can be refined or discarded without jeopardizing the overall project. Interoperability is another cornerstone of Immens’s design. By embracing open standards and text‑based file formats, the engine can communicate seamlessly with popular tools like Blender, Maya, or any generative‑art pipeline.
Brussee points out that when files are human‑readable, AI can parse and manipulate them directly, opening the door to smarter interfaces across the entire development stack. This openness contrasts with many current engines, which often act as closed ecosystems that resist integration with external software.
The conversation around AI in games is polarized. Some pundits on LinkedIn hype the prospect of "click‑to‑game" experiences where a single prompt spawns a Grand Theft Auto‑scale world. Immens’s team tempers such hype, insisting that AI should be viewed as a powerful tool rather than a magic wand.
Valient believes AI will make every developer better, but warns that the technology’s disruptive scale can create negative perceptions. De Jong adds that, like any tool humanity creates, AI can be misused, and the industry bears responsibility for guiding its application responsibly. Economic concerns also surface, especially the fear of an AI bubble with inflated valuations.
Valient draws a parallel with the dot‑com era, noting that while many companies vanished, the underlying internet survived and thrived. He argues that Immens is focused on building a solid engine first; AI merely accelerates their vision.
Whether the market is in a bubble remains uncertain, but the team is committed to delivering a product that stands on its own merits. Funding for Immens is still in early stages. The founders have secured initial commitments but have not disclosed amounts, describing the needed capital as "reasonable".
Brussee cautions against over‑funding, suggesting that excess money can breed complacency and diminish the scrappy mindset essential for a startup. The company remains lean—just the three founders and a handful of helpers—by design, believing that a small, focused team can make critical decisions faster than a bloated organization. Immens is currently developing a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow. The team aimed to have this ready by the end of the year, but they have already achieved the milestone in half the time.
While timelines remain fluid, the rapid progress underscores the potential of AI‑augmented development. Business‑model discussions are ongoing. Brussee appreciates Epic Games’ revenue‑share philosophy—"we succeed when you succeed"—but admits it is premature to commit to a specific approach. Ultimately, the founders hope Immens will enable creators to push the artistic and technical boundaries of games, fostering more risk‑taking and innovation in the industry.
"We love games and want to see more daring, creative experiences," Brussee concludes. "If our engine helps make that happen, it would be amazing."