For years, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces in game development, powering roughly 70% of the titles that appeared on Steam in 2025. While open‑source alternatives like Godot have made notable strides and some studios cling to proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example—the market has largely been a duopoly. Against this backdrop, three seasoned veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—have launched Immens, a venture that aims to carve out a fresh niche with an AI‑enhanced engine. The founders bring a résumé that reads like a who’s‑who of the industry: experience at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple.
Their collective background gives them a unique perspective on both the technical and business challenges that developers face today. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee argued that the timing is ripe for a new engine, noting that “the opportunity now didn’t exist a couple of years ago.” He believes AI‑assisted programming can revive the spirit of building tools from the ground up, offering developers a way to achieve full‑featured functionality quickly while retaining tight guidance and control. Valient, Immens’ chief technology officer, stresses that the AI component is not about generating assets with a single prompt, but about constructing an extensible codebase.
“AI can reason over large codebases and data sets,” he explained. “If we design the engine with that capability in mind, even solo creators or tiny teams can plug in custom systems—like a bespoke particle engine—without being limited to superficial scripting.” This philosophy underpins Immens’ promise to let developers harness AI to accelerate extensions and iterations, rather than replace the creative process. The motivation behind Immens is rooted in the harsh reality of today’s game market.
Brussee describes the environment as “rough,” where development costs keep climbing and studios risk financial ruin. He asks whether new workflows can break this cycle, enabling smaller teams to deliver games faster and with lower budgets. De Jong, the chief product officer, echoes this sentiment, pointing out that the engine landscape has become overly standardized and consolidated.
While standardization provides a solid foundation, he argues that the industry now needs genuine innovation, not more of the same. A key criticism De Jong levels at current engines is their monolithic nature. Developers must conform to proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines, which can stifle creativity.
With AI, Immens aims to flip the script: the engine should adapt to the developer, not the other way around. “Flexibility is essential,” he says. “You should be able to swap components, append new features, and craft tools that match your exact workflow—down to the shortcuts, UI layout, and feature set you need for your project.” Valient acknowledges AI’s power but warns of its volatility.
He stresses that Immens will keep users in the driver’s seat, offering full transparency into what the engine is doing and why. This traceability ensures repeatable results and allows developers to create disposable, highly specialized tools for tasks that once took weeks. Imagine drafting five characters with a specific trait over a coffee break, then discarding the temporary tool after it has served its purpose. Such rapid, cost‑effective workflows, he argues, could become the new norm.
Immens also prioritizes openness. By relying on text‑based file formats and open standards, the engine can interoperate seamlessly with popular tools like Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI pipeline.
Brussee notes that “the moment you have files that are text based, anything can read it,” enabling AI to parse and manipulate assets directly. This approach counters the “weird outlier” problem where many engines act as closed ecosystems, hindering integration with the broader toolchain.
The conversation around AI in game development is polarized. Some pundits on LinkedIn hype “click‑to‑game” scenarios where a prompt could spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience.
Immens’ team is more measured. While they see a future where engines become extremely user‑friendly, they view AI primarily as a productivity enhancer—a tool that makes developers better, not a replacement for human creativity. Valient acknowledges the negative connotations, attributing them to AI’s disruptive scale, but maintains that responsible use can yield powerful results. Economic anxieties also swirl around AI, with fears of a bubble and inflated valuations.
Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era, noting that while many companies vanished, the underlying technology— the internet—persisted and flourished. He believes Immens is focused on building a solid engine; AI merely accelerates development and expands imagination.
Whether the market is in a bubble remains uncertain, but the team is confident that a well‑crafted product will survive any downturn. Funding details remain vague. Immens has secured its “first commitments,” but the founders have not disclosed amounts, describing the target as “reasonable.” Brussee warns against over‑funding, suggesting that too much capital can breed complacency and reduce the scrappy mindset essential for a startup.
The company remains lean—just the three founders plus a handful of helpers—by design. De Jong explains the balancing act: building an engine is complex and cannot be rushed by throwing a massive team at it, yet timing is critical to capture the window opened by AI’s rise.
Currently, Immens is working toward a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow, slated for release later this month. The timeline has already outpaced their original projection; what they expected to take until year‑end is now arriving in half that time.
This rapid progress underscores the potential speed gains AI can deliver. Regarding the business model, Brussee admires Epic’s “we succeed when you succeed” approach but admits it’s too early to commit to a specific strategy. Ultimately, the founders hope Immens will empower creators to push the medium forward, fostering more risk‑taking, artistic expression, and innovation.
As Brussee puts it, “We love games, we love complex artistic expression, and we want to see more of it. If our technology helps make that happen, that would be amazing.”