For many years, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces in game development, responsible for roughly 70% of the titles launched on Steam in 2025. While Godot has enjoyed notable growth recently and large studios continue to rely on proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example—the market has largely been locked into the duopoly of Unity and Unreal. Enter Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient, the founders of Immens, who believe there is still space for a fresh engine and, more importantly, room for meaningful improvement. Their résumés read like a who's‑who of the industry, featuring stints at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and Apple.
Together, they aim to challenge the status quo. In a conversation with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee noted that “the moment is right” to build a new engine that simply didn’t exist a few years ago. He argues that AI‑assisted programming now makes it feasible to start from a clean slate and rapidly deliver fully functional features under tight guidance and control. Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, clarifies that their use of AI is not the hype‑driven “prompt‑to‑asset” approach many associate with the technology.
Instead, the AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make it highly extensible. "AI can reason over massive codebases and data sets very well," he explains. "If we design the engine with that capability in mind, even solo developers or small teams can extend it beyond simple scripting. Want a custom particle system?
You can plug it in directly. This is how we’re leveraging AI—to accelerate extensions while keeping the engine flexible." The motivation behind this AI‑powered engine stems from the current health of the games market, which Brussee describes as "rough." Development costs are soaring, and the risk of failure is growing.
He asks whether new, more efficient workflows can break this cycle, allowing studios to produce games faster, with fewer staff, and on tighter budgets, thereby safeguarding livelihoods. De Jong, Immens’s chief product officer, observes that the engine landscape has become overly standardized and consolidated. While this has provided a solid foundation, the industry now faces a series of challenges that demand innovation rather than further standardization. "Continuing to do exactly what we’ve always done won’t cut it," he says.
"We need a different approach." One of De Jong’s criticisms of existing engines is their monolithic nature. Developers are forced to adapt to proprietary file formats and rigid workflows. With AI, Immens envisions an engine that molds itself to the developer’s needs.
"Flexibility is key," he asserts. "You should be able to swap components, append new ones, modify existing tools, and build custom interfaces that match your personal workflow and project requirements." Valient acknowledges AI’s power but also its volatility. Without careful oversight, the technology can veer off course. To mitigate this, Immens is built to keep the user in the driver’s seat: developers can see exactly what the engine is doing, review its decision history, and ensure reproducibility.
This transparency enables the creation of bespoke tools that dramatically speed up creative tasks. For example, generating five characters with specific traits that once took weeks can now be imagined over a coffee break, used a handful of times, and discarded—saving significant resources. Flexibility is baked into Immens’s core philosophy.
The engine does not impose a single workflow or a predetermined level of AI integration. Teams can decide how much AI assistance they want and where to apply it, provided the AI correctly interprets the context. "The architecture is deliberately open," De Jong notes, "so you can shape your pipeline as you see fit." Interoperability is another pillar of Immens’s design.
By embracing open standards and text‑based file formats, the engine can seamlessly communicate with other tools such as Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI system. "When files are human‑readable, any software can parse them," Brussee explains. "This openness eliminates the isolation that many proprietary engines suffer from, allowing smoother pipelines across the entire development stack." The broader industry reaction to AI in game creation is mixed, with some commentators warning of a dystopian "click‑to‑game" future where entire AAA experiences are conjured by a single prompt. Immens’s team sees AI as a powerful assistant rather than a replacement.
Valient believes AI will make developers better, not obsolete, and acknowledges the current negative perception due to the disruptive scale of the technology. De Jong adds a note of responsibility: AI, like any tool, can be misused, but it is up to the industry to apply it ethically and productively. The economic anxieties surrounding AI—particularly fears of a bubble with inflated valuations—are also on their radar. Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era, noting that while many companies vanished, the underlying technology endured and flourished.
"We’re focused on building a solid engine; AI simply accelerates our vision. Whether this is a bubble is uncertain, but history shows that useful tech survives." Funding for Immens remains modest at this stage. The founders have secured initial commitments but have not disclosed exact figures, describing the amount as "reasonable." Brussee warns against over‑funding, which can breed complacency.
"Startups need to stay scrappy," he jokes, emphasizing the importance of disciplined resource use. The company remains a lean operation: the three founders plus a handful of helpers.
This small size is intentional, as scaling the team too quickly could hinder thoughtful decision‑making. De Jong explains the balancing act: building a complex engine requires expertise, but throwing a massive workforce at the problem does not guarantee success.
Timing is critical; the next few years present a window of opportunity as AI reshapes the industry. Immens aims to hit that sweet spot with the right amount of talent and capital. Currently, Immens is working toward a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow.
The team aims to release this demo within the month, already moving twice as fast as their original timeline projected when they began in April. Brussee admits that predicting exact schedules is challenging given the rapid progress. The business model is still evolving. While Immens admires Epic’s "we succeed when you succeed" licensing philosophy, they consider it premature to commit to a specific approach.
Ultimately, Brussee hopes the engine will empower creators to push the medium forward, fostering more artistic expression, risk‑taking, and innovation. "We love games and want to see the art form evolve," he says. "If our technology can help spark that evolution, it would be amazing."