For years, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces shaping game creation, accounting for roughly 70% of all Steam releases projected for 2025. While open‑source alternatives like Godot have gained traction and some studios cling to proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a notable example—the market has largely settled into a duopoly.
Into this seemingly closed arena step three seasoned industry veterans: Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient, the founders of Immersive Technologies, or Immens for short. Their résumés read like a who’s‑who of game development, featuring stints at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple.
Together they argue that there is still space for a fresh engine, and that the next generation of tools must be built with artificial intelligence at its core. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a new platform because "the kind of engine we could build didn’t exist a couple of years ago." He believes AI‑assisted programming can restore the feeling of building a system from the ground up, while still providing the guidance and control needed to ship functional products quickly. Valient, Immens’ chief technology officer, clarifies that their approach to AI is not about "prompt‑to‑content" magic. Instead, the AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make the codebase highly extensible.
"If we design the engine with AI reasoning in mind, even a solo developer can add a custom particle system or a bespoke gameplay mechanic without wrestling with opaque scripting layers," he says. The motivation behind Immens is rooted in the current economic climate of game development. Brussee describes the environment as "rough" and notes that production budgets are ballooning, making it increasingly difficult for independent studios to survive.
He asks whether new workflows could break the cycle of ever‑rising costs, allowing creators to deliver games faster, with fewer people, and on tighter budgets. De Jong, the company’s chief product officer, echoes this sentiment, observing that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated.
While that consolidation provides a solid foundation, it also stifles innovation. "We need a different way," he asserts, urging the industry to move beyond incremental updates and toward genuine breakthroughs. One of the biggest criticisms of today’s mainstream engines is their monolithic nature. Developers are forced to conform to proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines, which can hinder creativity.
De Jong envisions an engine that adapts to the user rather than the other way around. He imagines a system where developers can swap modules, append new functionality, and craft tools that match their personal workflows—down to the exact shortcuts, UI layout, and feature set each project demands. This level of customisation, he believes, is essential for fostering rapid iteration and creative risk‑taking.
Valient acknowledges that AI is a double‑edged sword. While its computational power can accelerate development, it can also produce erratic results if left unchecked. To mitigate this, Immens is built to keep the user in the driver’s seat: every AI‑generated action is logged, repeatable, and fully transparent. This traceability ensures that creators understand how a tool arrived at a particular outcome, allowing them to refine or discard it as needed.
He illustrates the potential with a simple example: generating five characters with specific traits that might have taken weeks to model manually can now be prototyped over a coffee break, used a handful of times, and then discarded—dramatically cutting costs. Flexibility is baked into Immens’ core philosophy. The engine does not impose a single workflow; instead, it offers a modular architecture that lets teams decide how much AI to incorporate and where. De Jong stresses that the framework must be robust enough to support diverse development styles while ensuring the AI interprets instructions correctly.
To promote interoperability, Immens relies on open standards and text‑based file formats. "When files are human‑readable, any tool—be it Blender, Maya, or a custom generative system—can ingest and output data seamlessly," Brussee explains. This openness contrasts with many existing engines that act as closed ecosystems, making cross‑tool integration cumbersome.
The broader conversation around AI in games is often polarised. Some commentators on platforms like LinkedIn hype the notion of "click‑to‑game" experiences, suggesting that a single prompt could spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑scale world.
Immens’ team tempers such optimism, positioning AI as a powerful assistant rather than a replacement for human creativity. Valient argues that AI will elevate the entire industry by making developers more capable, not by eliminating the craft. De Jong adds that, like any technology, AI must be used responsibly; it is a tool that can be misused, but the onus is on creators to steer it toward positive outcomes.
Economic anxieties also linger. Critics warn that AI‑focused startups may be riding a speculative bubble, similar to the dot‑com era. Valient counters that while valuations may fluctuate, the underlying technology is not going away.
"The internet survived the dot‑com bust; AI will endure beyond any hype cycle," he says, emphasizing that Immens’ priority is to build a genuinely useful engine, not to chase fleeting market trends. Funding remains modest. Immens has secured its "first commitments" but has not disclosed exact figures, describing the amount as "reasonable." Brussee cautions against over‑capitalisation, noting that excess cash can breed complacency. The company deliberately remains lean—just the three founders plus a handful of helpers—to retain agility and focus.
De Jong explains the delicate balance: a game engine is a complex undertaking that cannot be solved by throwing a million engineers at it, yet a small, dedicated team can iterate quickly and capture the emerging market window created by AI advancements. Currently, Immens is racing 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 expectations: what was projected to take until year‑end is now arriving in half that time.
As for the business model, Brussee hints at a partnership philosophy akin to Epic’s "we succeed when you succeed" approach, but admits it is still too early for concrete commitments. Ultimately, the founders hope Immens will empower creators to push the artistic and technical boundaries of games. "We love games and want to see more daring, more creative work," Brussee concludes. "If our technology can help bring that vision to life, that would be amazing."