Unity and Unreal have long held sway over the game‑development landscape, accounting for roughly 70% of the titles launched on Steam in 2025. While the open‑source Godot engine has enjoyed notable growth in recent years and some major studios cling to proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example—the market has largely been dominated by these two giants. Enter Immens, a fledgling company founded by three seasoned industry veterans: Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient. Their résumés read like a who’s‑who of game‑tech powerhouses, spanning Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple.
The trio believes there is still room for a fresh engine that addresses the shortcomings of the status quo. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a new platform. “A few years ago the idea of building a modern engine from the ground up seemed unrealistic,” he said.
“Now, with AI‑augmented programming, we can start from scratch again and deliver full‑featured tools much more quickly.” Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, clarifies that the AI they are leveraging is not the “prompt‑to‑content” hype that dominates headlines. Instead, the AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make it highly extensible. “When you design the codebase 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 noted.
“The AI helps you extend the engine faster, not replace the creative process.” The motivation behind Immens is rooted in the current economic pressures of game development. Brussee describes the environment as “rough” and increasingly unaffordable.
Development costs keep climbing, and smaller studios risk their entire livelihood on a single title. “We need new ways of working that cut costs, shrink team sizes, and accelerate timelines,” he argued.
“If we can make the process more efficient, creators won’t have to gamble everything on a single hit.” De Jong, the company’s chief product officer, observes that the engine market has entered a phase of “standardisation and consolidation.” While this has produced stable foundations, it has also led to a monolithic approach where developers must conform to proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines. He believes the industry now needs genuine innovation, not just more of the same. “We need an engine that bends to the developer’s will, not the other way around,” he said. Flexibility is a core tenet of Immens.
According to De Jong, users should be able to swap components, append new modules, and craft tailor‑made tools that match their personal workflows. He gave a personal example: “I can build an editor that has exactly the shortcuts, UI layout, and features my team requires, without fighting against a pre‑determined system.” Valient also warns that AI, while powerful, can misbehave if left unchecked. Immens therefore emphasizes transparency and control. “You always know what the engine is doing, you can review its history, and you can reproduce results reliably,” he explained.
This level of oversight is crucial when AI is used to generate assets or automate repetitive tasks, such as creating a set of characters with specific traits. What once took weeks can now be prototyped over a coffee break, then discarded after a few iterations—dramatically reducing cost. The platform does not enforce a single workflow.
De Jong stresses that the architecture is deliberately open‑ended, allowing teams to decide how much AI to incorporate and where. “We provide the scaffolding; developers decide how to build on it,” he said.
“The key is ensuring the AI understands the context correctly, which is why we focus on robust data handling.” Interoperability is another priority. Immens plans to rely on open standards and text‑based file formats so that external tools—Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI suite—can communicate seamlessly. Brussee highlighted that “when files are human‑readable, any AI can parse and manipulate them, breaking down the silos that many current engines create.” This openness could foster a richer ecosystem where assets flow freely between applications. The conversation around AI in game development is polarized.
Some pundits on LinkedIn predict a future where a single prompt spawns a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience, fueling fears of “click‑to‑game” shortcuts. Immens’s team acknowledges that such extremes are possible but views AI primarily as an accelerator rather than a replacement. “AI will make every creator better, not eliminate the craft,” Valient asserted. “It has negative connotations now because it’s disrupting at a scale we haven’t seen before, but it’s a tool like any other.” Economic anxieties also linger, with many questioning whether AI‑focused startups are part of a speculative bubble.
Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era, noting that while many companies vanished, the underlying technology— the internet—persisted and flourished. “We’re focused on building a solid engine; AI just helps us iterate faster and dream bigger.
Whether the market is a bubble is unknown, but history shows useful tech survives.” Funding remains modest. Immens has secured its “first commitments” but has not disclosed amounts, describing the target as “reasonable.” Brussee cautions against over‑capitalisation, warning that excess cash can breed complacency. “Startups need to stay scrappy; too much money can make you lazy.” The team itself is tiny—just the three founders and a handful of helpers—by design. De Jong explains the trade‑off: a massive crew does not guarantee success for a complex engine; a focused group can make deliberate decisions and maintain agility.
Yet they must also time their efforts to capture the window of opportunity presented by AI’s rise. “We need enough resources to hit that sweet spot without throwing a million people at the problem,” he said. Immens is currently racing toward a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow.
The goal is to release this demo within the month, a timeline that has already outpaced their original projection of year‑end delivery. “We’re moving twice as fast as we expected,” Brussee reported, underscoring the speed gains they attribute to AI integration. Business‑model discussions are still early.
While Brussee admires Epic Games’ philosophy of “we succeed when you succeed,” he admits it’s premature to lock in a pricing structure. The team remains open to various licensing or revenue‑share models that align with their vision of empowering creators.
Ultimately, the founders hope Immens will catalyze a new wave of daring, artistic games. “We love games as an expressive medium and want to see more risk‑taking and innovation,” Brussee concluded. “If our technology helps developers push boundaries, that would be amazing.”