For many years the game‑development landscape has been dominated by two heavyweight engines: Unity and Unreal. In 2025 they powered roughly seventy percent of all titles released on Steam, leaving little room for alternatives. While open‑source options like Godot have enjoyed a surge in popularity, and a few large studios cling to proprietary tools such as Capcom’s RE Engine, the market has largely been a duopoly.
Enter Immens, a fledgling company founded by three industry veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—who argue that there is still space for a fresh engine that addresses the shortcomings of the status quo. Their résumés read like a who’s‑who of game‑tech: experience at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, Apple, and more.
Together they are setting out to challenge the entrenched players with a platform built around artificial intelligence. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a new engine.
"A few years ago the idea of an AI‑augmented workflow didn’t exist in practice," he said. "Now, with AI‑supported programming, we can start from a clean slate and get full‑featured tools up and running much faster than before." Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, clarified that the AI they are employing is not the kind of generative, prompt‑driven magic that dominates headlines.
"Our AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make it highly extensible," he noted. "Because AI can analyse massive codebases and data, we can design the core so that even a solo developer can plug in a custom particle system, a bespoke animation pipeline, or any other feature without being confined to a limited scripting layer.
The goal is to let creators extend the engine quickly and safely, using AI as an accelerator rather than a black‑box wizard." The motivation behind Immens’s AI‑centric approach stems from the harsh economic reality facing developers today. Brussee described the current climate as "rough" and warned that production costs are spiralling. "Games are getting more expensive, and the risk to studios is growing," he said.
"We need new ways of working that cut costs, shrink team sizes, and shorten schedules without sacrificing quality. AI gives us a lever to achieve that." De Jong, the chief product officer, pointed out that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated.
While this has provided a solid foundation, he believes the industry now needs genuine innovation. "Continuing to iterate on the same monolithic engines won’t solve the challenges we face," he argued. "We need flexibility, modularity, and tools that adapt to the developer rather than forcing developers to adapt to the tools." One of the pain points with existing engines is their monolithic nature and reliance on proprietary file formats. De Jong envisions an engine that behaves like a set of interchangeable building blocks.
"You should be able to swap components, append new ones, and craft custom interfaces that match your workflow," he explained. "Imagine a designer who can create a toolbar with exactly the shortcuts, panels, and visual style they need for a specific project, and then share that setup with the whole team. That level of personalization is what AI makes feasible at scale." Valient also warned that AI, while powerful, can misbehave if left unchecked. "We are building Immens so that the user remains in full control of what the engine does," he said.
"Every action is logged, reproducible, and transparent, so you always know why a particular result was generated. This traceability is essential for a reliable creative pipeline." The team illustrated the potential impact with a concrete example: generating five distinct characters with a particular trait.
In a traditional pipeline, this could take weeks of manual modelling, rigging, and iteration. With AI‑assisted tools, a developer could sketch the concept over coffee, let the engine synthesize the assets, and then fine‑tune them as needed—saving both time and money.
Such rapid prototyping, according to the founders, could become a routine part of game development, democratizing capabilities that were once reserved for large studios. Immens’s philosophy is deliberately engine‑agnostic regarding workflow. De Jong emphasized that the framework does not dictate a single way of working. "You decide how much AI you want to involve and where you want it," he said.
"Our architecture is designed to be open enough that you can integrate AI at any stage, whether it’s for asset generation, code scaffolding, or debugging, while still preserving the option to work entirely manually if you prefer." Interoperability is another cornerstone of the platform. By adopting open, text‑based standards for assets and project files, Immens aims to play nicely with existing tools such as Blender, Maya, or other generative pipelines.
"When files are human‑readable, any program can parse them," Brussee noted. "That means the AI can ingest and manipulate those files directly, creating a seamless bridge between the engine and the broader ecosystem of creative software.
This openness is a stark contrast to many proprietary engines that act as closed silos." The broader conversation about AI in game development is fraught with hype and fear. Some commentators on LinkedIn predict a future where a single prompt can spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience, sparking concerns about job displacement and artistic integrity. Immens acknowledges these anxieties but frames AI as a tool rather than a replacement.
Valient said, "Big games and indie titles alike will benefit because AI makes everyone more capable. It’s a disruptive technology, but disruption doesn’t have to be negative." De Jong added a note of responsibility: "We must use AI responsibly. Any technology can be misused, but it’s up to us to set standards and practices that keep it a force for good." Economic skepticism also surrounds the AI boom, with many warning of a bubble reminiscent of the dot‑com era.
Valient responded that while valuations may be inflated, the underlying technology is here to stay. "The internet didn’t disappear after the dot‑com crash; the shaky companies fell, but the infrastructure survived and thrived. AI is similar—some startups will fail, but the solid ones that deliver real value will endure," he said. Immens is focused on building a genuinely useful engine first, letting AI accelerate development rather than being the sole selling point.
Funding remains modest. The company has secured its "first commitments" but has not disclosed amounts, describing them as "reasonable." Brussee cautioned against over‑capitalization, noting that too much money can breed complacency.
"Startups need to stay scrappy," he laughed. The team itself is tiny—just the three founders plus a handful of helpers. This lean structure is intentional, as De Jong explained that building an engine is a complex, nuanced task that benefits from a small, focused group capable of making rapid decisions. "You can’t throw a million engineers at the problem and expect miracles," he said.
"You need a tight core that iterates quickly, learns from mistakes, and adapts to market shifts." Immens is currently targeting a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a full editing workflow powered by generative AI, slated for release within the month. Brussee revealed that the project, which began in April, is already moving twice as fast as initially projected, underscoring the speed gains they anticipate from AI integration. Regarding the business model, the founders admire Epic Games’ revenue‑share approach—"we succeed when you succeed"—but admit it is still too early to lock in a specific strategy.
Their immediate goal is to prove the technology’s viability and attract partners who share their vision of a more open, AI‑enhanced development ecosystem. Ultimately, the trio hopes Immens will empower creators to push the boundaries of interactive storytelling. "We love games and the artistic expression they enable," Brussee concluded. "We want to see more risk‑taking, more innovation, and more diverse voices.
If our engine can help make that possible, it would be amazing."