Unity and Unreal have long held sway over the game‑development landscape, powering roughly 70% of Steam releases in 2025. While Godot has made notable gains recently and some studios cling to proprietary tools—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example—the duopoly of Unity and Unreal still dominates the market. Enter Immens, a venture founded by three seasoned veterans: Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient.
Their résumés read like a who’s‑who of the industry, featuring stints at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and Apple. The trio believes there is still space for a fresh engine, and more importantly, for a new way of building it. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee argued that the timing is now right for a novel platform that simply did not exist a few years ago.
“With AI‑assisted programming, we can start from a clean slate again,” he said. “Guided but flexible development lets us deliver full‑featured tools quickly.” Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, clarified that the AI they employ is not the flashy, prompt‑driven generation that dominates headlines.
Instead, it is woven into the engine’s architecture to make the codebase highly extensible. “AI can reason over large codebases and data sets,” he explained. “If we design the engine with that capability in mind, even solo developers can plug in custom systems—say, a bespoke particle system—without being limited to simple scripting.” This approach, he added, aims to let creators extend the engine rapidly using AI as an accelerator rather than a replacement for thoughtful engineering. The motivation behind Immens’s AI‑powered engine is rooted in the current economic pressures of game development.
Brussee described the market as “rough,” noting that production costs keep climbing and many studios struggle to stay viable. “We need new workflows that cut costs, shrink team sizes, and speed up delivery,” he asserted. “Otherwise you risk your livelihood and your studio’s future.” De Jong, the company’s chief product officer, pointed out that the engine space has become overly standardized and consolidated. While that consolidation provides a solid foundation, he believes the industry now requires genuine innovation.
“Continuing to do exactly what we’ve always done won’t solve the challenges we face,” he said. “We need a different paradigm—one that embraces flexibility over monolithic design.” Current engines often force developers into a monolithic workflow, complete with proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines. De Jong envisions an engine that bends to the user’s needs, allowing developers to swap components, append new features, and craft bespoke tools tailored to their specific projects.
“Imagine being able to build an interface with the exact shortcuts, features, and layout that match your team’s workflow,” he mused. “That level of personalization is what we’re targeting.” Valient acknowledged AI’s power but warned of its volatility. “If you don’t keep a close eye on it, the system can go off the rails quickly,” he cautioned.
To mitigate this, Immens is built to keep the user in full control, with transparent histories of every AI‑driven action. This reproducibility ensures that developers can trust the output and reuse tools without fear of hidden side effects. He illustrated the potential impact with a simple example: creating five characters with a specific trait used to require weeks of planning and manual effort. With AI‑assisted tooling, a developer could sketch the concept over coffee, generate the assets, and then discard the temporary tool after five uses—dramatically reducing cost and time.
Flexibility is baked into Immens’s core architecture. De Jong emphasized that the engine does not impose a single workflow; instead, it offers a framework that lets users decide how much AI to incorporate and where. “The key is ensuring the AI understands the context correctly,” he said, noting that a well‑designed interface can prevent misinterpretations. Interoperability is another pillar of Immens’s strategy.
By embracing open, text‑based standards, the engine can seamlessly exchange data with popular tools like Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI pipeline. Brussee explained, “When files are plain text, any program can read them. The AI can parse those files and act on them, making integration far smoother than the closed, proprietary formats many engines still rely on.” This openness, he argued, is essential for creating smarter, more connected development pipelines.
The broader AI debate in game development is heated. Some commentators on LinkedIn hype AI to the point of claiming that a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience could be conjured with a single prompt.
Immens’s team acknowledges that while a “click‑to‑game” future may eventually emerge, they view AI primarily as an empowering tool rather than a magical shortcut. Valient summed it up: “AI will make everyone better, but it’s still a tool that must be used responsibly.” Economic anxieties also linger, with many questioning whether the AI boom is a bubble.
Valient compared it to the dot‑com era, noting that while many companies will fail, the underlying technology will persist. “AI isn’t disappearing; it’s evolving. Our goal is to build a solid engine that leverages AI to accelerate development, not to chase hype,” he said.
Funding for Immens remains modest. The founders have secured initial commitments but have not disclosed exact figures, describing the amount as “reasonable.” Brussee warned against over‑capitalization, noting that too much money can breed complacency.
“Startups need to stay scrappy,” he laughed. The team itself is intentionally lean: the three founders plus a handful of helpers. De Jong explained the trade‑off between staffing and speed.
“You can’t throw a million engineers at an engine and expect it to work overnight,” he said. “A small, focused group can make deliberate decisions and iterate faster, especially given the narrow window of opportunity presented by AI’s rise.” Immens is currently developing a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow. The team aims to release this demo within the month, a timeline that has already outpaced their original expectations. “We thought we’d need until the end of the year; we’re now twice as fast,” Brussee reported.
Business‑model discussions are still in early stages. While Immens admires Epic’s revenue‑share philosophy—where the platform succeeds when developers succeed—they are not ready to make concrete announcements yet. Ultimately, the founders hope Immens will catalyze a new wave of creativity and risk‑taking in games. “We love games and want to see more daring, artistic expressions,” Brussee concluded.
“If our technology can help studios push the boundaries of what’s possible, that would be amazing.”