For years, Unity and Unreal have been the go‑to tools for game developers, powering roughly 70% of all Steam releases slated for 2025. While open‑source alternatives like Godot have enjoyed a surge in popularity, the market remains heavily dominated by these two giants, with a handful of studios still relying on proprietary solutions such as Capcom’s RE Engine.
In this landscape, three seasoned industry veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—believe there is still space for a fresh, more adaptable engine. Their new venture, Immens, aims to combine the power of artificial intelligence with a modular architecture that can serve small teams without the overhead of traditional pipelines. The founders’ résumés read like a who's‑who of modern game development.
Brussee cut his teeth at Epic Games, the creator of Unreal, before moving on to roles at Guerrilla Games and Apple. De Jong spent time at Boss Key and other high‑profile studios, while Valient’s technical leadership spans several AAA projects.
Together they argue that the industry has settled into a complacent cycle: developers are forced to fit their visions into monolithic engines, contend with proprietary file formats, and shoulder ever‑rising budgets. As Brussee puts it, “the market is rough; making games is becoming increasingly expensive, and we need new ways to break that cycle.” The core promise of Immens is an AI‑enhanced workflow that does not rely on the kind of prompt‑based generation that dominates current hype. Valient clarifies that the AI in Immens is not about conjuring assets from a single line of text; instead, it is woven into the engine’s very codebase to make the system highly extensible. By designing the architecture with AI reasoning in mind, the team hopes that even solo developers can plug in custom features—such as a bespoke particle system—without wrestling with low‑level scripting.
This approach, they argue, turns AI into a productivity multiplier rather than a black‑box shortcut. De Jong stresses that the industry has become too standardized. While standardisation provides a solid foundation, it also creates a monolithic approach that stifles innovation. He envisions an engine that can be reshaped on the fly: developers should be able to swap modules, append new tools, and tailor the interface to their personal workflow.
“If I need a tool that matches my background, with exact shortcuts and UI layout, I should be able to build it quickly,” he says. This flexibility is intended to let creators focus on design rather than on fighting the engine. AI’s role, however, is not without pitfalls.
Valient warns that powerful models can veer off course if left unchecked. Immens therefore embeds transparency mechanisms: users can see exactly what the AI is doing, review its decision history, and ensure repeatable results. This level of control is meant to keep the creative process reliable while still offering the speed of AI‑assisted automation.
For example, generating five characters with specific traits that once required weeks of manual work could now be prototyped over a coffee break, then refined or discarded as needed. Interoperability is another pillar of Immens’ design philosophy.
By adopting open, text‑based standards, the engine can read and write files that other tools—Blender, Maya, or emerging generative pipelines—understand out of the box. Brussee notes that many engines act as closed ecosystems, forcing developers to convert assets into proprietary formats.
Immens aims to flip that script, allowing seamless data exchange and smarter interfaces across the entire development stack. The team is also realistic about the broader AI conversation in gaming.
While some pundits hype “click‑to‑game” promises that a single prompt could spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience, Immens treats AI as a supportive instrument rather than a replacement for human creativity. Valient believes AI will make developers better, not obsolete, and stresses the responsibility to wield the technology ethically. “Any tool can be misused; it’s up to us to guide it toward positive outcomes,” he says. Economic concerns swirl around the AI boom, with many fearing a bubble of over‑valued startups.
Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era, noting that while many companies vanished, the underlying internet persisted and grew stronger. Immens’ focus, he argues, is on building a genuinely useful engine; AI simply accelerates that mission.
The founders have secured initial funding commitments but remain cautious about over‑capitalisation, warning that excess cash can breed complacency. Currently, Immens is a lean operation—just the three founders and a handful of helpers.
This small size is intentional; building a sophisticated engine requires careful decision‑making that cannot be outsourced to a massive team. De Jong explains the balancing act: “You need enough people to hit the market window created by AI advances, but not so many that you lose agility.” A proof‑of‑concept demo showcasing AI‑driven editing workflows is slated for release this month, two times faster than the original timeline projected when the project launched in April. Brussee acknowledges that timelines remain fluid, but the early progress signals that the AI‑centric approach can indeed speed development.
Regarding monetisation, Immens admires Epic’s “we succeed when you succeed” model but admits it is too early to lock in a specific strategy. The ultimate goal, according to Brussee, is to empower creators to push the boundaries of the medium: more artistic expression, greater risk‑taking, and innovative gameplay built on a flexible, AI‑enhanced foundation. If successful, Immens could become a catalyst for a new wave of games that break free from the cost‑and‑complexity shackles that currently dominate the industry.