For years, Unity and Unreal have been the go‑to platforms for game creators, powering roughly 70 % of the titles that appeared on Steam in 2025. While Godot has carved out a niche and some studios cling to proprietary solutions such as Capcom’s RE Engine, the market has largely been a duopoly. Into this landscape step three seasoned veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—who have founded Immens with a bold vision: a fresh, AI‑enhanced engine that can break the cycle of ever‑rising costs and shrinking margins.
The trio’s résumés read like a who’s‑who of the industry. Brussee helped build the original Unity, De Jong spent years at Guerrilla Games, and Valient’s background spans Epic Games, Apple, and Boss Key.
Their combined experience gives them a unique perspective on why the status quo is no longer sufficient. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right because “the kind of engine we need didn’t exist a couple of years ago.” He believes AI‑assisted programming can finally let developers start from a clean slate and assemble full‑featured tools much more quickly than traditional hand‑coding permits.
Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, is careful to distinguish their use of AI from the hype‑driven “prompt‑to‑content” narrative that dominates many discussions today. He says the AI in Immens is not about conjuring assets out of thin air; instead, it is woven into the engine’s architecture to make the codebase highly extensible.
“If we design the engine with AI in mind, even a solo developer can plug in a custom particle system or a bespoke animation pipeline without rewriting large sections of the core,” he notes. The goal is to give creators the ability to augment the engine on the fly, accelerating iteration cycles while keeping full control over the underlying logic. The motivation behind this ambitious project is the increasingly hostile economics of game development.
Brussee describes the current climate as “rough,” pointing out that production budgets are ballooning while the margin for error shrinks. “We need new ways of working that lower costs, let smaller teams ship faster, and reduce the risk to studios and individuals,” he says. De Jong echoes this sentiment, observing that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated. While standardisation offers a stable foundation, he argues that the industry now needs genuine innovation rather than incremental tweaks.
One of the core criticisms De Jong has of existing engines is their monolithic nature. Developers must adapt to proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines, which can stifle creativity. With AI, Immens aims to flip that model on its head: the engine will adapt to the developer, not the other way around. “Flexibility is key,” he explains.
“You should be able to swap modules, append new tools, and reshape the interface to match your workflow. If I need a shortcut for a specific animation rig, I can build it directly into the engine and share it with my team.” Valient acknowledges that AI is a double‑edged sword. While it can dramatically speed up tasks—such as generating five uniquely‑behaved characters in minutes rather than weeks—it can also produce unpredictable results if left unchecked. Immens therefore emphasizes transparency: users can see exactly what the AI is doing, review its history, and ensure that any generated content is repeatable and auditable.
This level of control is intended to keep the creative process grounded while still leveraging AI’s productivity boost. Immens’s design philosophy rejects a one‑size‑fits‑all workflow. De Jong stresses that the framework is deliberately agnostic, allowing teams to decide how much AI to incorporate and where. The engine also embraces open standards, meaning that assets stored as plain text can be read and manipulated by any compatible tool.
“If you’re using Blender, Maya, or a generative‑art pipeline, you can plug it straight into Immens because everything speaks the same language,” Brussee says. This openness contrasts with many proprietary engines that act as closed ecosystems, hindering cross‑tool collaboration. The conversation around AI in game development is polarized.
Some pundits on LinkedIn hype a future where a single prompt could spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience, fueling fears of a “click‑to‑game” apocalypse. Immens’s founders temper those expectations, framing AI as a powerful assistant rather than a replacement for human talent. “AI will make everyone better, not take over,” Valient asserts.
“It’s a tool, and like any tool, it can be misused, but it also opens doors to creativity that were previously out of reach.” Economic anxieties also linger, especially regarding the perception of an AI bubble. Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era, noting that while many startups vanished, the underlying internet survived and flourished. He believes Immens’s focus on building a solid, useful engine will allow it to endure regardless of market froth. “We’re not chasing hype; we’re building something that genuinely helps developers work faster and dream bigger,” he says.
Funding remains modest at this stage. Immens has secured its first commitments but has not disclosed the exact amount, describing it as “reasonable.” Brussee warns against over‑capitalisation, noting that excess cash can breed complacency. The company deliberately remains lean—just the three founders and a handful of helpers—to stay scrappy and make decisive technical choices. Currently, Immens is racing toward a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow.
The team anticipated a year‑long development timeline but has already delivered the prototype in roughly half that time, underscoring the very speed gains they promise to users. While the final business model is still under discussion, Brussee admires Epic’s “we succeed when you succeed” licensing approach and hints that a similar partnership could emerge once the product matures.
In the end, the founders share a simple hope: that Immens will empower creators to push the boundaries of interactive art. “We love games and want to see more risk‑taking, more innovation, more artistic expression,” Brussee concludes. “If our engine can help make that happen, it would be amazing.”