For many years, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces in game creation, accounting for roughly seventy percent of the titles launched on Steam in 2025. While Godot has enjoyed a surge in popularity and some large studios still rely on proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example—the market has largely been a duopoly. Yet three industry veterans, Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient, have founded Immers (spelled Immens in their branding) with the conviction that there is still space for a fresh engine, and that the current tools can be significantly improved.
The founders’ résumés read like a who’s‑who of game development: experience at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee argued that the timing is now right for a new engine because "a few years ago the technology simply didn’t exist." He believes AI‑assisted programming can revive the ability to build systems from the ground up, offering developers rapid access to full‑featured functionality while retaining tight guidance and control. Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, stresses that their use of AI is not the hype‑driven "prompt‑to‑asset" approach that dominates headlines. Instead, the AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make it highly extensible.
"AI can reason over large codebases and data sets," he explains. "If we design the engine with that capability in mind, even a solo developer can add a custom particle system or any other feature without being confined to a limited scripting layer." This philosophy aims to let creators extend the engine quickly, using AI as a productivity catalyst rather than a magical shortcut. The motivation behind Immens is rooted in the current economic climate of the games sector, which Brussee describes as "rough." Development costs keep climbing, making it increasingly difficult for small teams to break even. He asks whether new workflows can be discovered that lower budgets, shrink team sizes, and accelerate timelines, thereby reducing the existential risk for studios and their creators.
De Jong, the chief product officer, echoes this sentiment, noting that the engine landscape has become overly standardized and consolidated. While that consolidation provides a solid base, the industry now needs genuine innovation, not more of the same. One of De Jong’s criticisms 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: the engine should adapt to the developer, not the other way around.
"Flexibility is key," he says. "You should be able to swap components, append new tools, and tailor the interface to match your personal workflow.
If I need a shortcut or a specific UI element for my project, I can build it directly into the engine." Valient acknowledges AI’s power but warns that it can also veer off course if left unchecked. Immens is being built so that users retain full visibility and control over what the AI does, preserving repeatability and auditability. He illustrates this with a hypothetical: creating five characters with a unique trait used to require weeks of planning; now, a developer could sketch the idea over coffee, generate the assets with AI, reuse the tool a handful of times, and discard it—all at a fraction of the previous cost.
The engine’s design deliberately avoids imposing a single workflow. De Jong stresses that teams can decide how much AI to integrate and where to apply it, as long as the underlying system reliably interprets the AI’s output. To further promote openness, Immens will rely on text‑based, open‑standard file formats.
"When files are readable as plain text, any tool—be it Blender, Maya, or a bespoke system—can ingest them," Brussee notes. This interoperability contrasts with many proprietary engines that act as closed ecosystems, hindering seamless data exchange. Public opinion on AI in game development is mixed.
Some commentators on platforms like LinkedIn hype the prospect of "click‑to‑game" engines that could conjure GTA‑scale experiences from a single prompt. Immens’s team sees such visions as far‑off fantasies; they view AI as a powerful tool that will make developers better, not replace them.
Valient remarks that AI’s current negative perception stems from its disruptive scale, but ultimately it is a neutral instrument that can be wielded responsibly. Economic anxieties also surface, with critics labeling the AI boom a bubble. Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era: the internet didn’t disappear, even though many companies failed.
He believes that solid products will survive, and Immens is focused on building a high‑quality engine that leverages AI to accelerate development and enable bigger creative ambitions. Whether the sector is in a bubble remains uncertain, but the team is prepared for any outcome.
Funding details remain private. Immens has secured its "first commitments" but has not disclosed amounts, describing the capital sought as "reasonable." Brussee cautions against over‑funding, noting that excess cash can breed complacency, whereas a lean operation encourages scrappiness. The company currently consists of the three founders plus a handful of helpers, a size chosen deliberately to balance the complexity of engine development with the need to stay agile and hit the market window created by AI’s rise. A proof‑of‑concept demo showcasing generative AI‑driven editing is slated for release this month, already delivering results twice as fast as the team originally projected when they began in April.
While the business model is still forming, Brussee admires Epic Games’ "we succeed when you succeed" licensing philosophy, though he admits it is too early to commit to a specific approach. Ultimately, the founders hope Immens will empower creators to push the medium forward. "We love games and the complex artistic expression they enable," Brussee concludes.
"We want more creativity, more risk‑taking, and more innovation built on technology like ours. That would be amazing."