For many years, the game‑development landscape has been dominated by two heavyweight engines: Unity and Unreal. In fact, by 2025 roughly seventy percent of titles released on Steam were built with one of those platforms. While the open‑source Godot engine has enjoyed a noticeable surge in popularity, the majority of larger studios still cling to proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example. This concentration has left the market feeling almost closed‑shop.
Enter three industry veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—who have joined forces to launch Immens, a new AI‑augmented game engine that aims to carve out a fresh niche. Their résumés read like a who’s‑who of modern game development, with stints at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple. Together they believe there is still room for innovation and for a tool that better serves smaller teams.
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 building something from the ground up with AI support didn’t really exist," he said. "Now, with AI‑assisted programming, we can start from scratch again and get full‑featured functionality much faster while still keeping tight control over the process." Valient, Immens’ chief technology officer, clarified that the AI they are integrating is not the kind that simply generates assets from a text prompt. "Our AI is baked into the engine’s architecture to make it highly extensible," he noted.
"Because AI can reason over large codebases, we can design the engine so that even solo developers or tiny studios can plug in custom systems—like a bespoke particle renderer—without being limited to superficial scripting. The goal is to let creators extend the core quickly and safely." The motivation behind this ambitious project stems from a bleak outlook on the current economics of game creation. Brussee described the market as "rough" and warned that development costs are spiraling upward, making it increasingly difficult for independent studios to survive. "We need new ways of working that cut costs and shrink team sizes without sacrificing quality," he argued.
"If we can accelerate pipelines and lower budgets, studios won’t have to gamble their livelihoods on a single hit." De Jong, Immens’ chief product officer, observed that the engine space has become overly standardized and consolidated. While this has provided a solid technical foundation, he believes the industry now requires genuine innovation rather than incremental refinements. "The status quo is a monolithic approach where developers must conform to proprietary file formats and rigid workflows," he said. "With AI, we can flip that script and give users an engine that adapts to them, not the other way around." Flexibility is a core tenet of Immens.
De Jong envisions a system where developers can swap components, append new modules, or even rewrite interfaces to match their personal workflow. "Imagine being able to craft a toolset that mirrors your own habits—exact shortcuts, specific UI layouts, and custom features—so that every member of your team works in the most efficient way for the project at hand," he explained. Valient also warned that AI, while powerful, can be unpredictable if left unchecked.
To mitigate this, Immens is built to keep the user in the driver’s seat. "You always see what the engine is doing, you have a full history of actions, and you can reproduce results reliably," he said.
"This transparency lets you create throw‑away tools for one‑off tasks—like generating five characters with a unique trait in minutes—without committing months of manual labor." The engine’s architecture deliberately avoids imposing a single workflow. De Jong emphasized that teams can decide how much AI assistance they want and where to apply it. "Our framework is modular, so you can choose the level of AI integration that fits your pipeline, as long as the AI can correctly interpret the data it works with," he added. Interoperability is another priority.
Immens will rely on open, text‑based standards so that files can be read and edited by any compatible software. Brussee highlighted the advantage: "If a file is plain text, any tool—whether it’s Blender, Maya, or a bespoke generative system—can ingest it. Open standards let us build smarter bridges between the engine and the broader ecosystem, something many closed‑source engines still struggle with." There is a vocal backlash against AI in game development, often fueled by sensational claims that a single prompt could produce a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience.
Immens’ founders acknowledge that while a "click‑to‑game" future might eventually emerge, they view AI primarily as an accelerator, not a replacement for human creativity. Valient summed it up: "AI will make everyone better, but it remains a tool. Its current negative perception comes from the rapid disruption it introduces." Economic concerns also linger, with some observers labeling the AI boom a bubble.
Valient compared it to the dot‑com era, noting that while many companies will fall, the underlying technology endures. "AI isn’t disappearing; the internet didn’t vanish after the bubble burst.
Good products survive, and we aim to build a genuinely useful engine that leverages AI to speed development and expand imagination," he said. Funding remains modest. Immens has secured its "first commitments" but has not disclosed exact figures, describing the amount as "reasonable".
Brussee cautioned against over‑funding, noting that excess capital can breed complacency. "Start‑ups need to stay scrappy. Too much money can make you lazy," he laughed.
The team itself is lean—just the three founders plus a handful of helpers. This intentional size allows for rapid decision‑making and focused iteration.
De Jong explained the trade‑off: "Building an engine is complex; you can’t throw a million engineers at it and expect miracles. You need a small, dedicated crew to make thoughtful choices, especially during this narrow window of opportunity created by AI’s rise." Immens is currently racing toward a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow.
The team aims to release the demo within the month, already having accelerated their timeline dramatically. "When we started in April, we thought we’d be ready by year‑end.
We’re now twice as fast as we expected," Brussee reported. As for the business model, Immens is still exploring options. Brussee mentioned admiration for Epic Games’ revenue‑share approach—"we succeed when you succeed"—but admitted it’s too early to commit to a specific plan.
Ultimately, the founders hope Immens will enable a new wave of daring, creative games. "We love games as an art form and want to see more risk‑taking and innovation," Brussee concluded. "If our technology helps developers push boundaries, that would be amazing."