For years, Unity and Unreal have dominated the game‑development landscape, powering roughly 70 % of the titles that appeared on Steam in 2025. While open‑source alternatives such as Godot have gained traction, most large studios still rely on proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a notable example—and the market has seemed firmly locked into the duopoly of Unity and Unreal. 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‑engine history, featuring stints at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple. Together they argue that there is still room for a fresh engine, and that the next generation of tools should be built with artificial intelligence at its core. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a new platform. "A few years ago the idea of an AI‑assisted engine didn’t really exist," he said.
"Now, with AI‑supported programming, we can start building from the ground up again, under tight guidance, and achieve full functionality much faster." Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, clarified that the AI they are leveraging is not the sort of “prompt‑to‑content” magic that dominates headlines. Instead, the AI is embedded in the engine’s architecture to make it highly extensible. "If we design the codebase with AI reasoning in mind, even small teams or solo developers can extend the engine beyond simple scripting. Want a custom particle system?
You can add it directly. The AI helps you do that faster and more reliably," he explained.
The motivation behind Immens’s AI‑driven approach stems from the current economic climate of game development, which Brussee describes as "rough." Production budgets are ballooning, and the risk of failure is climbing. "We need new ways of working that lower costs and let smaller teams ship games quickly," he said. "If we can make development more efficient, studios won’t have to gamble their entire livelihood on a single title." De Jong, the chief product officer, pointed out that the engine market has become increasingly standardized and consolidated. While that stability provides a solid foundation, it also stifles innovation.
"The industry is facing a host of challenges, and repeating the same old processes won’t solve them. We need genuine innovation, not just more of the same," he asserted. One of the pain points De Jong highlighted is the "monolithic" nature of existing engines.
Developers must adapt to proprietary file formats and rigid workflows. With AI, Immens aims to flip that script, delivering a system that molds itself to the developer’s needs.
"Flexibility is key," he said. "You should be able to swap components, append new features, and craft bespoke tools that match your personal workflow—down to the exact shortcuts, UI layout, and feature set you require." Valient also warned that AI, while powerful, can quickly go off‑track if left unchecked. To mitigate this, Immens is building transparency into the engine: users will always know what the AI is doing, can review its decision history, and retain full control over the output.
This reproducibility, he argues, is essential for a reliable creative pipeline. The team envisions a future where routine tasks—like generating five characters with a specific trait—can be scripted in minutes rather than weeks. "You could brainstorm over coffee, let the AI produce a prototype, use it a handful of times, and then discard it.
What used to cost thousands of dollars of labor can now be done in a fraction of the time," Valient said. Immens’s philosophy is deliberately engine‑agnostic. The framework does not impose a single workflow; instead, it offers a modular architecture where developers decide how much AI to incorporate and where.
"We want the underlying structure to be open enough that you can pick and choose the level of AI assistance that makes sense for your project," De Jong added. Interoperability is another cornerstone.
By embracing open, text‑based standards, Immens ensures that assets from tools like Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI system can be read and manipulated without friction. "When files are plain text, any program can parse them.
The AI can then act on those files directly, creating a seamless pipeline across the entire toolchain," Brussee explained. The conversation around AI in game development is polarized. Some commentators on LinkedIn hype a future where a single prompt can spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience, prompting fears of a "click‑to‑game" apocalypse.
Immens’s founders acknowledge the hype but view AI as a facilitator rather than a replacement. "AI will make every creator better, not eliminate the need for human artistry," Valient said.
"It’s a tool, and like any tool, it can be misused, but it also has the power to unlock unprecedented creativity." Economic concerns also surface, with critics labeling the AI boom a bubble. Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era: the internet didn’t disappear; many over‑valued companies fell, but the underlying technology persisted. "We’re focused on building a solid engine. AI accelerates us and lets us dream bigger, but the core product must stand on its own merits," he noted.
Funding remains modest. Immens has secured its "first commitments" but has not disclosed amounts, emphasizing that excessive capital can breed complacency.
"Start‑ups that get too much money often become lazy. Scrappiness drives innovation," Brussee laughed. The company remains lean—just the three founders plus a handful of helpers—by design. De Jong explained the trade‑off: a massive team doesn’t guarantee success in a complex undertaking like engine development; a focused, small team can iterate faster and make decisive choices.
Timing is crucial, as the industry is on the cusp of AI‑driven transformation, and Immens aims to capture that window. Currently, Immens is racing toward a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow. The team expected to have a working prototype by year‑end, but they are already two‑fold ahead of schedule, planning to release the demo within the month. Regarding the business model, Brussee admires Epic Games’ "we succeed when you succeed" approach but admits it’s too early to commit to a specific pricing strategy.
The ultimate goal, he says, is to empower creators to push the medium forward. "We love games as an art form and want to see more risk‑taking, more creativity. If our technology can help make that happen, it would be amazing," he concluded.