For years, the game‑development landscape has been dominated by the twin pillars of Unity and Unreal, which together powered roughly 70 % of all Steam releases in 2025. While open‑source options like Godot have begun to gain traction, the market remains heavily skewed toward these two commercial giants, with a handful of studios still clinging to proprietary tools such as Capcom’s RE Engine. Into this entrenched environment step three industry veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—who have founded Immens with the ambition to carve out a fresh niche.
The trio’s résumés read like a who’s‑who of modern game development: experience at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, Apple, and other high‑profile studios. Their collective belief is that, despite the apparent market saturation, there is still room for a new engine that addresses the shortcomings of existing solutions.
In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right: “A few years ago, the idea of building a brand‑new engine from the ground up seemed unrealistic. With AI‑assisted programming now maturing, we can revisit that ambition and deliver a fully functional system much more quickly.” Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, clarifies that the AI component is not about generating assets via simple prompts, but rather about constructing an engine architecture that is inherently extensible.
“AI excels at reasoning over large codebases and data sets,” he said. “If we design the engine with that capability in mind, even a solo developer or a tiny team can plug in custom features—say, a bespoke particle system—without being constrained to a limited scripting layer.” This philosophy underpins Immens’s goal of turning AI into a productivity multiplier rather than a magic wand. The motivation behind the project is rooted in the current economic pressures facing developers. Brussee describes the market as “rough,” noting that production budgets are ballooning and the risk of failure is climbing.
“We need new workflows that lower costs and accelerate timelines,” he argued. “If smaller teams can ship high‑quality experiences faster and with fewer resources, studios can protect their livelihoods and take more creative risks.” De Jong, Immens’s chief product officer, observes that the engine space has become increasingly standardized and consolidated, providing a solid foundation but also stifling innovation. “The industry is at a crossroads,” he said. “Continuing to iterate on the same monolithic tools won’t solve the challenges we face.
We need a paradigm shift—flexibility, modularity, and user‑driven customization.” He criticises current engines for imposing rigid, proprietary file formats and workflows, forcing developers to adapt rather than the tools adapting to them. “With AI, we can build an engine that reshapes itself around the developer’s needs, allowing interchangeable components, custom shortcuts, and bespoke interfaces tailored to each project.” Valient acknowledges AI’s double‑edged nature.
While he lauds its power, he warns that unchecked AI can “go off the rails” without careful oversight. Immens therefore emphasizes transparency and control: users can trace every AI‑generated change, review its history, and ensure repeatability. This level of insight enables rapid iteration—imagine drafting five distinct characters with specific traits over a coffee break, then discarding the temporary tool once the job is done.
Such workflows, once prohibitively expensive, become feasible with AI‑enhanced pipelines. Flexibility is baked into Immens’s design.
De Jong stresses that the engine does not dictate a single workflow; developers decide how much AI to incorporate and where. The architecture is deliberately open, supporting open standards and text‑based file formats that any tool can read. “When files are human‑readable, the AI can parse and manipulate them directly,” Brussee explained.
“This means seamless integration with popular packages like Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI system. The ecosystem can communicate because we’re using open protocols rather than closed, proprietary ones.” The broader conversation around AI in game development is polarized. Some pundits on LinkedIn hype “click‑to‑game” engines that could conjure Grand‑Theft‑Auto‑style worlds from a single prompt. Immens’s founders see such visions as distant possibilities, but they stress that AI should be treated as a tool, not a replacement for human creativity.
“AI will make everyone better, not replace them,” Valient noted. “The current backlash stems from fear of disruption, but responsible use can elevate the craft.” Economic anxieties also linger, with many questioning whether AI is a bubble. Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era: the internet didn’t disappear, even though numerous startups failed.
“Great technology survives; mediocre ideas fade,” he said. Immens aims to be the latter—building a genuinely useful engine that leverages AI to accelerate development without relying on hype. Funding remains modest. The company has secured “first commitments” but has not disclosed amounts, describing the target as “reasonable.” Brussee cautions against over‑capitalization, noting that excess cash can breed complacency.
“Startups need to stay scrappy,” he laughed. The team currently consists of the three founders plus a handful of helpers, a deliberately lean structure to maintain agility. Balancing team size with ambition is a delicate act. De Jong explains that a game engine is a complex undertaking that cannot be solved by simply hiring a million engineers.
“You need a focused group to make strategic decisions and iterate slowly,” he said. At the same time, there is a narrow window of opportunity as AI reshapes the industry, and Immens must position itself to capitalize on that moment without over‑extending. Immens is now working toward a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow, slated for release later this month. The timeline has already outpaced initial expectations; what was projected to take until year‑end is now on track for a spring launch.
Brussee admits that predicting exact milestones is challenging given the rapid pace of development. Regarding the business model, Immens admires Epic’s “we succeed when you succeed” licensing approach but remains too early to commit to a specific strategy.
Ultimately, Brussee hopes the engine will empower creators to push the medium forward. “We love games and the artistic expression they enable,” he said. “We want more risk‑taking, more innovation, and we believe our technology can help make that happen.
That would be amazing.”