For decades, the game‑development landscape has been dominated by two heavyweight engines—Unity and Unreal. In 2025, roughly seventy percent of all titles released on Steam were built with one of these platforms.
While the open‑source Godot engine has enjoyed a surge in popularity, most large studios still cling to proprietary solutions such as Capcom's RE Engine. The market, therefore, appears tightly sealed around the two giants. Enter Immens, a nascent studio founded by three industry veterans: Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient.
Their résumés read like a who’s‑who of modern game development, 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—one that not only competes with the established players but also addresses the systemic problems that have been driving costs upward for years. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a new engine because "the tools that existed a few years ago simply don’t exist anymore." He believes that the rise of AI‑assisted programming opens the door to rebuilding the development stack from the ground up, offering developers a way to achieve full functionality much more quickly than traditional pipelines allow.
Valient, Immens’ chief technology officer, is quick to clarify that the AI they are integrating is not the kind of generative prompt‑to‑content system that dominates headlines. Instead, the AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make it highly extensible. "AI can reason over massive codebases and data sets," he said.
"If we design the engine with that capability in mind, even a solo developer can add a custom particle system, a bespoke physics module, or any other feature without being limited to a narrow scripting language. The AI becomes a productivity partner, accelerating extensions rather than merely generating assets on demand." The motivation behind Immens is rooted in the harsh economic reality of modern game production.
Brussee described the current climate as "rough" and warned that development budgets are inflating faster than revenues. "It’s becoming increasingly difficult to turn a profit," he said.
"We need new workflows that lower costs, let smaller teams ship faster, and reduce the financial risk that threatens studios and the livelihoods of their creators." De Jong, the company’s chief product officer, echoed this sentiment, noting that the engine market has entered a phase of "standardisation and consolidation." While this has provided a solid technical foundation, it has also led to a complacent status quo. "The industry now faces a suite of challenges—rising costs, talent shortages, and a need for faster iteration," he explained.
"Continuing to do things the same way isn’t enough; we need genuine innovation, not just more of the same." One of the pain points De Jong highlighted is the "monolithic approach" of existing engines. Developers must adapt to proprietary file formats, rigid pipelines, and a one‑size‑fits‑all toolset. By contrast, Immens aims to be a chameleon, reshaping itself to the developer’s workflow.
"Flexibility is key," he said. "You should be able to swap components, append new modules, or rewrite tools to match exactly what your project demands. Imagine a UI that mirrors your personal shortcuts, a debugging console that surfaces the metrics you care about, and a scripting environment that feels like an extension of your own thought process. That level of customisation is what we’re targeting." Valient also warned that AI, while powerful, can quickly veer off course if left unchecked.
To mitigate this, Immens is built around transparency and control. Users will always be able to see what the AI is doing, review its decision history, and ensure repeatable outcomes. This auditability is crucial for a creative process that often involves rapid prototyping—such as generating five distinct characters with specific traits in the time it would traditionally take weeks. With Immens, a developer could sketch the concept over coffee, let the AI flesh out the assets, and then either iterate or discard the results with minimal overhead.
The engine’s architecture deliberately avoids imposing a single workflow. De Jong emphasized that teams can decide how much AI assistance they want and where to apply it. "Our framework is modular, so you can plug in AI wherever it makes sense—whether that’s asset generation, code refactoring, or automated testing—while retaining full oversight of the process." Interoperability is another cornerstone of Immens. By embracing open standards and text‑based file formats, the engine can communicate seamlessly with industry staples like Blender, Maya, and other generative tools.
Brussee illustrated the advantage: "When files are human‑readable, any tool can parse them. The AI can ingest those files, transform them, and feed them back into the pipeline without a proprietary bottleneck. This openness is a game‑changer for studios that rely on a mosaic of software solutions." The broader conversation around AI in game development is polarized.
Some commentators on LinkedIn predict a future where a single prompt can spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience, sparking fears of a "click‑to‑game" utopia that could marginalise human creativity. Immens’ founders acknowledge the hype but position AI as a collaborative instrument rather than a replacement. Valient summed it up: "AI will make every developer better, not replace them.
The negative connotations stem from its disruptive scale, but any powerful tool can be misused. Our responsibility is to guide its use ethically." Economic anxieties also linger, especially regarding the perceived AI bubble. Valient drew a parallel to the dot‑com era, noting that while many companies vanished, the underlying technology— the internet—persisted and flourished.
"AI isn’t disappearing; it’s evolving. Some startups will fail, but the ones that deliver real value will endure.
Our focus is on building a solid engine; AI simply accelerates that process. Whether we’re in a bubble is uncertain, but history shows that useful technology outlives speculative hype." Funding remains modest. Immens has secured its first round of commitments but has not disclosed amounts, describing the target as "reasonable." Brussee cautioned against over‑capitalisation, noting that excessive cash can breed complacency. "Startups need to stay scrappy," he laughed.
"Too much money can make you lazy." The team itself is deliberately lean—just the three founders and a handful of helpers. This small size allows rapid decision‑making and a focused development cadence.
De Jong explained the trade‑off: "Building an engine is complex; you can’t throw a million engineers at it and expect miracles. You need a tight, thoughtful group that can iterate and make hard choices. At the same time, there’s a narrow window of opportunity as AI reshapes the industry, so we must balance resources without over‑extending." Immens is currently racing toward a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a complete editing workflow powered by generative AI.
The goal is to release this demo within the month, a timeline that Brussee admits is far ahead of their original estimate. "We thought we’d need until year‑end; we’re already twice as fast," he said, underscoring the very speed gains they claim their engine can deliver. Monetisation strategies are still under discussion.
While Immens admires Epic Games’ revenue‑share model—"we succeed when you succeed"—they acknowledge that it’s too early to commit to a specific approach. The overarching ambition, however, is clear: to empower creators to push the boundaries of interactive art. In the words of Brussee, "We love games.
We love the complex artistic expression they enable, and we want to see more risk‑taking, more innovation. If our technology can help studios build bolder experiences, that would be amazing."