For many years, Unity and Unreal have been the de‑facto platforms for video‑game creation, accounting for roughly 70 % of all titles released on Steam in 2025. While open‑source alternatives such as Godot have begun to gain traction, most large studios still rely on proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example—and the duopoly of Unity and Unreal continues to dominate the market. Enter three seasoned industry veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—who have launched Immers (styled Immens) with the belief that a fresh engine can still carve out a niche and improve the status quo. Their résumés read like a who’s‑who of game development: experience at Epic Games, the creators of Unreal; stints at Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple.
Together they aim to challenge the entrenched giants. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a new engine because “the landscape has changed in the last few years.” He argues that AI‑assisted programming now makes it possible to start building tools and systems from the ground up again, offering developers a way to achieve full functionality quickly while retaining tight guidance and control.
Valient, Immers’ chief technology officer, clarifies that the company’s use of AI differs from the hype‑driven “prompt‑to‑content” narrative that dominates much of the conversation today. Instead of generating assets on demand, Immers leverages AI to make the engine itself more extensible. “AI can reason about massive codebases and data sets,” he says. “If we design the architecture with that capability in mind, even a solo developer can plug in a custom particle system or a bespoke gameplay mechanic without being confined to a limited scripting layer.” The goal is to let creators augment the engine rapidly, using AI as a productivity accelerator rather than a replacement for human ingenuity.
The motivation behind this ambitious project stems from what Brussee describes as a “rough” market environment. Game development costs are spiralling, making it increasingly difficult for small teams to break even. “We need new ways of working that shrink budgets, reduce team size, and shorten timelines,” he argues. By harnessing AI‑driven workflows, Immers hopes to lower the financial barrier to entry and give independent studios a fighting chance to survive and thrive.
De Jong, the chief product officer, points out that the engine space has become overly standardized and consolidated. While that consolidation has produced stable foundations, it has also stifled innovation.
“The industry is facing a suite of challenges, and simply iterating on the same old pipelines isn’t enough,” he asserts. “What we need now is genuine innovation, not more of the same.” One of the pain points De Jong identifies in current engines is their monolithic nature. Developers must adapt to proprietary file formats and rigid toolchains, often spending valuable time learning the engine rather than creating the game. With AI, Immers aims to flip that script: the engine should adapt to the developer’s needs.
“Flexibility is key,” he explains. “You should be able to swap modules, append new features, or build entirely custom tools that match your personal workflow—down to the exact shortcuts, UI layout, and feature set you require.” Valient acknowledges that AI is a double‑edged sword. While it is “really powerful,” it can also veer off course if left unchecked. Immers therefore emphasizes transparency and control: users will always see what the engine is doing, have access to its decision history, and be able to reproduce results reliably.
This level of auditability, he says, is essential for creative pipelines where a designer might need to generate five characters with specific traits in minutes—a task that previously could have taken weeks. The architecture of Immers is deliberately agnostic. It does not enforce a single workflow or dictate how much AI a developer must employ. Instead, it provides a modular framework that lets teams decide where AI fits into their pipeline.
“You can choose to lean heavily on AI for certain tasks and rely on manual coding for others,” De Jong notes. “The key is that the AI must understand the context correctly, which is why we’re building robust interfaces and clear data contracts.” Interoperability is another cornerstone of the platform.
By adopting open, text‑based standards, Immers ensures that assets and project files can be read and manipulated by a wide range of tools—Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI suite—without the friction typical of closed‑source engines. Brussee argues that “the moment you have human‑readable files, any AI can parse them, and any third‑party application can interact with them,” opening the door to smoother pipelines and smarter cross‑tool communication. The broader AI debate in game development is far from settled. Some commentators on LinkedIn sensationalize the notion that a single prompt could spawn a Grand‑Theft‑Auto‑scale experience, fueling backlash.
Immers’ team tempers those expectations, positioning AI as a powerful assistant rather than a magical button. “One day we might see ‘click‑to‑game’ engines,” Valient concedes, “but for now we view AI as a tool that makes everyone better, not a replacement for human creativity.” Economic anxieties also linger.
Critics warn that the AI boom could be a bubble, with inflated valuations that may not survive a market correction. Valient draws a parallel with the dot‑com era: “The internet didn’t disappear; many over‑hyped companies vanished, but the underlying technology endured.” He stresses that Immers is focused on building a solid engine first; AI simply accelerates development and expands what’s imaginable.
Funding remains modest. Immers has secured its “first commitments” but has not disclosed exact figures, describing the amount as “reasonable.” Brussee warns against over‑capitalization, noting that excess cash can breed complacency. The company deliberately remains lean—just the three founders and a handful of collaborators—to stay scrappy and make rapid decisions.
Balancing team size with ambition is a delicate act. De Jong explains that creating a game engine is a complex undertaking that cannot be solved by simply hiring a large workforce. “You need a focused group that can iterate, make hard choices, and learn from each step,” he says.
At the same time, there is a narrow window of opportunity as AI reshapes the industry, and the team must ensure they have enough resources to seize it without over‑extending. Immers is currently racing toward a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow. The goal is to release the demo within the month, a timeline that Brussee says is already twice as fast as their original projection when they started in April.
This rapid progress underscores the very efficiency gains they claim AI can deliver. The business model is still under discussion. While the founders admire Epic Games’ “we succeed when you succeed” revenue sharing approach, they consider it premature to commit to a specific structure. Ultimately, Brussee hopes Immers will enable games that push artistic boundaries and encourage risk‑taking.
“We love games and want to see more daring, creative experiences,” he concludes. “If our technology can empower developers to innovate and take bigger creative leaps, that would be amazing."