For many years, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces in game creation, powering roughly 70% of the titles released on Steam in 2025. While Godot has enjoyed notable growth recently and some studios cling to proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example—the market has largely been locked into the two major engines. Against this backdrop, three seasoned industry veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—have launched Immersive (Immens), a new AI‑enhanced game engine that they believe can carve out a fresh niche and address long‑standing pain points.
The founders bring a résumé that reads like a who's‑who of modern game development: experience at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee argued that the timing is now right for a new engine, noting that "an opportunity exists that simply didn’t exist a few years ago." He points to AI‑assisted programming as the catalyst that could let developers start building from a clean slate again, delivering full‑featured tools quickly while retaining tight guidance and control. Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, clarifies that the AI they employ is not the kind of prompt‑to‑content generator that dominates headlines.
Instead, the AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make the codebase highly extensible. "AI can reason over large amounts of data and source code," he explains. "If we design the engine with that capability in mind, even solo developers or tiny teams can extend it beyond simple scripting. Want a custom particle system?
You can plug it in directly." This approach aims to let creators use AI as a speed‑boost for extending functionality rather than as a black‑box content factory. The motivation behind Immens is rooted in the current economic climate of the games industry, which Brussee describes as "rough." Development costs continue to climb, making it increasingly difficult for small studios to survive. "We need new ways of working that lower expenses and shrink team sizes while still delivering high‑quality experiences," he says. De Jong, the chief product officer, adds that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated.
While that stability provides a solid foundation, the industry now demands genuine innovation rather than incremental refinements. One of De Jong’s critiques of existing engines is their monolithic nature. Developers often must conform to proprietary file formats and workflows, limiting flexibility.
With AI, Immens intends to flip that script, offering an engine that adapts to the developer’s needs. "It must be extremely flexible," he notes.
"You should be able to swap components, append new ones, modify existing tools, and even build bespoke interfaces that match your personal workflow. For me, that means creating a toolset with the exact shortcuts, features, and UI that my team requires." Valient acknowledges AI’s power but warns that it can "go off the rails" without careful oversight. Immens is therefore built to keep users in the driver’s seat: the engine logs its actions, provides reproducible histories, and lets developers intervene at any stage. This transparency turns AI into a reliable assistant rather than an unpredictable oracle.
He illustrates the impact with a simple example: generating five characters with specific traits used to take weeks of planning; now, a developer could sketch the idea over coffee, let the AI produce a prototype, use it a handful of times, and discard it—dramatically cutting cost and time. Flexibility is baked into Immens’s core philosophy.
The framework does not impose a single workflow; instead, it lets users decide how much AI to integrate and where. De Jong emphasizes that the architecture must be open enough for developers to choose their own processes, while still ensuring the AI interprets instructions correctly. Interoperability is another pillar of the project.
By relying on open, text‑based standards, Immens can communicate seamlessly with tools like Blender, Maya, or other generative pipelines. "When files are plain text, any program can read them," Brussee says. "The AI can parse those files and act on them, enabling smarter interfaces across the entire toolchain. This is something proprietary engines have historically struggled with." The broader conversation around AI in game development is polarized.
Some hype‑driven voices on LinkedIn claim that future engines will let anyone conjure a Grand Theft Auto‑scale world with a single prompt. Immens’s team tempers those expectations, describing AI as a powerful tool rather than a magical shortcut. Valient believes AI will elevate the entire industry: "Big games and everything in between will benefit because AI makes everyone better." He also stresses responsible use, noting that any technology can be misused, but the onus is on developers to apply it ethically.
Economic anxieties also surface, with critics warning of an AI bubble. Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era, arguing that while many companies will fall, the underlying technology endures. "AI isn’t disappearing; it’s becoming the infrastructure that enables faster, bigger dreams," he says. Immens is focused on building a solid engine first, using AI to accelerate development and inspire ambitious designs.
Funding remains modest. The founders have secured initial commitments but have not disclosed exact figures, describing the amount as "reasonable." Brussee cautions against over‑funding, noting that excess capital can breed complacency. The company remains lean—just the three founders plus a handful of helpers—by design. De Jong explains the trade‑off: a massive team doesn’t guarantee success for a complex engine; a small, focused group can make deliberate decisions and iterate faster, especially within the limited window of opportunity presented by the AI surge.
Immens is currently targeting a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow, slated for release this month. The timeline has already outpaced their original expectations; what was projected for year‑end is now arriving in weeks. As for the business model, Brussee admires Epic’s "we succeed when you succeed" philosophy but admits it’s too early to commit to a specific approach. Ultimately, the trio hopes Immens will spark a wave of creativity, risk‑taking, and artistic expression in games.
"We love games and want to see more daring, innovative experiences," Brussee says. "If our technology can help developers push the envelope, that would be amazing."