For many years, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces in game creation, accounting for roughly 70% of all titles released on Steam in 2025. While the open‑source Godot engine has enjoyed a surge in popularity, most large studios still cling to proprietary solutions such as Capcom’s RE Engine, leaving the market largely under the control of the two giants.
Enter Immens, a start‑up founded by three seasoned veterans – Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient – who believe 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 the industry, spanning Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and Apple. Together they are setting out to challenge the entrenched players.
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a new platform: “A few years ago this kind of engine simply didn’t exist. With AI‑assisted programming we can start building from the ground up again, under tight guidance, and deliver full‑featured tools much faster.” Valient, Immens’ chief technology officer, clarifies that the AI component is not about generating assets from a single prompt. Instead, it is woven into the engine’s architecture to make the codebase highly extensible. “AI can reason over large codebases and data sets,” he said.
“If we design the engine with that in mind, even a solo developer can plug in a custom particle system or a bespoke gameplay mechanic without being limited to a tiny scripting layer.” This approach aims to let creators extend the engine quickly, using AI as a productivity enhancer rather than a magic wand. The motivation behind Immens stems from what Brussee describes as a “rough” market climate. Game development costs are soaring, and smaller studios find it increasingly difficult to survive. “We need new ways of working that cut expenses, shrink team sizes, and shorten timelines,” he argued.
“Otherwise you’re risking your livelihood and the future of your studio.” De Jong, the chief product officer, points out that the engine landscape has become overly standardized and consolidated. While that consolidation has provided a stable foundation, it also stifles innovation. “The industry is facing a host of challenges, and repeating the same old processes won’t solve them,” he said. “We need fresh ideas, not just more of the same.” A key criticism of current engines is their monolithic nature.
Developers must adapt to proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines, which can be a barrier to creativity. De Jong believes AI can flip this script, offering an engine that molds itself to the developer’s workflow. “It has to be flexible,” he explained.
“You should be able to swap components, append new tools, and redesign the interface to match exactly what your project demands.” Valient acknowledges that AI is powerful but also unpredictable if left unchecked. To keep the technology trustworthy, Immens is built around transparency and control. “When you use the engine you always know what it’s doing, you can review its history, and you can reproduce results reliably,” he said. This level of oversight is intended to prevent the “off‑the‑rails” behavior some fear from AI‑driven systems.
One of the most compelling promises is the ability to generate bespoke tools on the fly. Imagine needing five characters with a specific trait; traditionally this could take weeks of manual work.
With Immens, a developer could sketch the requirement over coffee, let the AI produce a temporary tool, apply it, and discard it after use—dramatically slashing cost and time. Immens’ philosophy is to avoid imposing a single workflow on its users. De Jong emphasizes that the framework is deliberately open‑ended: “You decide how much AI you want to involve and where you want it.” At the same time, the engine relies on open standards for file formats, making it easy to interoperate with existing tools such as Blender, Maya, or any generative‑art pipeline.
“If the files are text‑based, any program can read them, and the AI can manipulate them as needed,” Brussee noted. This openness counters the isolation often seen in proprietary engines. The broader AI debate in game development is heated. Some commentators on LinkedIn hype the idea that a single prompt could spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience, sparking fears of a “click‑to‑game” future.
Immens’ team sees AI more modestly—as a catalyst that makes developers better, not a replacement for human creativity. “AI will improve everyone’s output, but it remains a tool,” Valient said. “It has negative connotations now because it’s disrupting at a scale no one has seen before.” Economic concerns also linger.
Critics warn of an AI bubble with inflated valuations. Valient counters that while bubbles burst, the underlying technology endures—just as the internet survived the dot‑com crash. “We’re focused on building a solid engine; AI simply accelerates our vision. Whether the market is a bubble is uncertain, but the tech isn’t disappearing.” Funding for Immens is still in its early stages.
The founders have secured “first commitments” but have not disclosed amounts, describing the needed capital as “reasonable.” Brussee cautions against over‑funding, noting that too much money can breed complacency. “Start‑ups need to stay scrappy,” he laughed.
The company remains lean—just the three founders plus a handful of helpers. De Jong explains that a small, focused team is essential for an undertaking as complex as an engine. “You can’t throw a million developers at it and expect miracles. You need a tight group to make deliberate decisions and iterate slowly, while also seizing the narrow window of opportunity that AI is creating.” Immens is currently developing a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow.
The team aims to release the demo within the month, already moving twice as fast as their original timeline projected when they started in April. “Timelines are hard to predict, but we’re clearly ahead of schedule,” Brussee reported. Regarding the business model, Brussee mentions admiration for Epic’s “we succeed when you succeed” licensing approach, but admits it’s too early to commit to a specific strategy. The ultimate goal, he says, is to empower creators to push the medium forward.
“We love games as an art form and want to see more risk‑taking and innovation. If our technology can help make that happen, it would be amazing.”