For years, the game‑development landscape has been dominated by two heavyweight engines: Unity and Unreal. In 2025, roughly seventy percent of titles released on Steam were built with one of those platforms. While the open‑source Godot engine has made notable strides recently, most large studios continue to rely on proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example—leaving Unity and Unreal with an almost unassailable market share.
Enter Immens, a fledgling venture founded by three industry veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—who believe there is still room for a fresh, more adaptable engine. Their 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. Together, they aim to challenge the status quo and give developers a new set of tools that can break the cycle of ever‑increasing production costs.
In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a new engine because "the opportunity didn’t exist a couple of years ago." He argues that advances in AI‑assisted programming now allow teams to start building from scratch without the massive overhead that previously made such an undertaking prohibitive. "With the right guidance and control, you can assemble a fully functional engine much faster than before," he said.
Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, is quick to clarify that the AI they are leveraging is not the sort of generative‑prompt magic 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 noted.
"If we design the engine with that capability in mind, even a solo developer can add a custom particle system, a bespoke animation pipeline, or any other feature without being confined to a limited scripting layer. The AI simply accelerates the extension process." The motivation behind Immens’s AI‑centric approach stems from the harsh realities of today’s games market.
Brussee describes the environment as "rough" and points out that development budgets are ballooning, making it increasingly difficult for small studios to survive. "We need new ways of working that lower costs, shrink team sizes, and speed up delivery," he said. "If we can make the development process more efficient, we reduce the financial risk for creators and keep studios afloat." De Jong, the chief product officer, adds that the engine market has entered a phase of "standardisation and consolidation." While this has provided a solid technical foundation, it has also stifled innovation. "Continuing to do things exactly as we have in the past won’t solve the emerging challenges," he argued.
"What the industry needs now is genuine innovation, not more of the same." One of the chief criticisms De Jong has of current engines is their "monolithic approach." Developers are forced to adapt to proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines, which can be a barrier to creativity. With AI, Immens aims to flip that script, delivering an engine that molds itself to the developer’s workflow. "Flexibility is key," he explained. "You should be able to swap components, append new modules, and craft tools that fit your personal workflow—down to the exact shortcuts, UI layout, and feature set you need for a particular project." Valient acknowledges that AI is a double‑edged sword.
While it is "really powerful," it can also "go off the rails" if left unchecked. To mitigate this, Immens is building transparency and control into the core of the engine. Users will be able to see exactly what the AI is doing, review its decision history, and ensure repeatable outcomes.
This level of oversight, he says, is essential for maintaining trust and reliability in a production environment. The team envisions a future where routine tasks—like generating five characters with specific traits—can be completed in minutes rather than weeks. "Previously you’d spend days planning and iterating; now you could sketch the idea over coffee, let the AI produce a usable asset, and move on," Valient said.
"Those rapid, disposable workflows were once prohibitively expensive, but with AI they become affordable and scalable." Immens’s architecture deliberately avoids imposing a single workflow on its users. De Jong emphasizes that the framework is modular, allowing developers to decide how much AI to incorporate and where.
"You can use the engine as a traditional toolset or lean heavily on AI for certain pipelines, but the choice remains yours," he said. "The AI must understand the context correctly, and that’s why we’re focusing on open standards and clear data representations." Open standards are another cornerstone of Immens’s strategy.
By relying on text‑based file formats, the engine can interoperate seamlessly with popular tools such as Blender, Maya, and other generative pipelines. "When files are human‑readable, any software can parse them," Brussee noted.
"The AI can then manipulate those assets directly, creating a smarter, more connected workflow across the entire production chain. This level of interoperability has been missing from many proprietary engines." The broader industry conversation around AI in game development is polarized.
Some commentators on LinkedIn predict a future where a single prompt can spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience, fueling fears of "click‑to‑game" solutions that could undermine craftsmanship. Immens acknowledges that such extremes may eventually be possible, but they view AI primarily as an augmentative tool rather than a replacement for human creativity. "AI makes everyone better," Valient asserted. "It’s a tool that can amplify talent, not a magic wand that eliminates the need for skill." Economic anxieties also swirl around the AI boom, with many questioning whether the sector is a bubble inflated by speculative valuations.
Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era, noting that while many companies vanished, the underlying technology— the internet— persisted and flourished. "AI isn’t going away; it’s here to stay," he said. "Our goal is to build a solid engine that leverages AI to accelerate development, not to chase hype. Whether the market is a bubble is unknown, but good products survive regardless of the hype cycle." Funding for Immens remains modest at this stage.
The founders have secured "first commitments" but have not disclosed exact figures, describing the amount as "reasonable." Brussee cautions against over‑funding, warning that excess capital can breed complacency. "Startups need to stay scrappy," he laughed. "Too much money can make you lazy, and that’s the opposite of the lean, innovative mindset we need." The company’s team is intentionally small—just the three founders plus a handful of contributors. This lean structure is by design, allowing rapid decision‑making and focused development.
De Jong explains the trade‑off: a massive team does not automatically translate to faster progress on a complex engine; instead, a tight group can iterate, make critical architectural choices, and stay aligned with the window of opportunity presented by AI’s rise. Immens is currently racing toward a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases "the flow of editing something" using generative AI.
The team aims to release the demo within the month, a timeline that has already outpaced their original expectations. "When we started in April, we thought we’d be ready by year‑end," Brussee recalled. "We’re now twice as fast, which makes it hard to give firm timelines, but the momentum is encouraging." Business model discussions are still in their infancy. While Immens admires Epic Games’ revenue‑share approach—"we succeed when you succeed"—the founders admit it’s too early to commit to a specific pricing structure.
They remain open to experimenting with licensing, subscription, or revenue‑share models once the engine reaches a more mature stage. Ultimately, the founders hope Immens will empower creators to push the artistic and technical boundaries of games. "We love games and the complex expressions they enable," Brussee concluded.
"We want to see more risk‑taking, more creativity, and more innovation built on technology that actually helps developers realize their visions. That would be amazing."