For years, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces in game creation, responsible for roughly 70% of the titles that appeared on Steam in 2025. While Godot has enjoyed notable growth and some large studios cling to proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example—the market has largely been a duopoly. Yet three industry veterans, Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient, have launched Immens, a fresh engine that they believe can carve out a meaningful niche and push the status quo forward.
The founders bring a résumé that reads like a who’s‑who of modern game development. Brussee helped build the original Unreal engine at Epic Games, De Jong contributed to the success of titles at Guerrilla Games and Boss Key, and Valient has experience at Apple and other leading studios. Their collective experience gives them a unique perspective on the shortcomings of today’s mainstream engines and fuels their conviction that a new approach is both possible and necessary. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a novel engine.
"A few years ago the idea of building a new engine from scratch seemed unrealistic," he said. "Now, with AI‑assisted programming, we can start from a clean slate and still deliver full‑featured tools quickly, while keeping tight control over the development process." Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, clarified that the AI component is not about generating assets through simple prompts.
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 unique gameplay mechanic without wrestling with opaque scripting layers," he noted. "The AI helps you extend the engine faster, not replace the creative decisions you make." The motivation behind Immens is rooted in the harsh economic realities of modern game production. Brussee described the current climate as "rough," emphasizing that development costs keep climbing, making it harder for small teams to survive.
"We need new workflows that lower budgets and shrink team sizes without sacrificing quality," he argued. "AI can be a catalyst for that efficiency, allowing studios to iterate faster and mitigate financial risk." De Jong, the chief product officer, pointed out that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated. While this has produced reliable foundations, it also stifles innovation. "The industry faces a range of challenges, and simply repeating the old methods won’t solve them," he said.
"We need a paradigm shift—flexibility over monoliths." Current engines often force developers into a "monolithic" workflow, complete with proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines. De Jong envisions an engine that molds itself to the developer’s needs. "Imagine being able to swap out components, append new tools, or rewrite interfaces to match exactly how you work," he explained. "For my own projects, I could craft a UI with shortcuts and features tailored to my team’s habits, rather than adapting to a one‑size‑fits‑all system." Valient acknowledges AI’s power but also its volatility.
"If you don’t keep an eye on it, the AI can go off the rails," he warned. To counter this, Immens is built with transparency at its core. Users can see the engine’s decision history, ensuring repeatable results and giving developers the confidence to create bespoke tools for specific tasks—like generating five uniquely‑traited characters in minutes instead of weeks. Flexibility is baked into Immens’s design philosophy.
De Jong stresses that the framework does not dictate a single workflow or a fixed level of AI involvement. "You decide how much AI you want and where you apply it," he said.
"Our job is to make sure the AI understands the context correctly, but the ultimate control stays with the creator." Interoperability is another priority. By embracing open, text‑based standards, Immens aims to speak fluently with popular tools such as Blender, Maya, and other generative pipelines. "When files are human‑readable, any system can parse them," Brussee noted.
"This openness lets the AI manipulate assets directly and lets studios plug in their favorite software without wrestling with closed‑source barriers." The broader AI debate in game development is heated. Some commentators predict a future where entire AAA experiences could be conjured with a single prompt, sparking fears of a "click‑to‑game" era. Immens’s team, however, views AI as a powerful assistant rather than a replacement.
Valient believes AI will elevate the entire industry: "Big games and indie titles alike will benefit because AI makes everyone better. The current backlash stems from the disruptive scale, but tools are neutral; it’s how we use them that matters." Economic concerns also loom, with many questioning whether AI‑focused startups are part of a speculative bubble. Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era, noting that while many companies vanished, the underlying technology endured. "AI isn’t disappearing; it’s becoming the infrastructure of future creation.
Whether we’re in a bubble is uncertain, but good products survive regardless of hype." Funding remains modest. Immens has secured its "first commitments" but has not disclosed amounts, emphasizing that excessive capital can breed complacency. Brussee joked that too much money makes a startup lazy, preferring to stay scrappy and lean. The company currently consists of the three founders plus a handful of helpers.
They argue that a small, focused team is essential for building a complex engine; you cannot simply throw a million developers at the problem and expect miracles. Balancing the need for talent with the urgency of the market window is a delicate act, according to De Jong. Immens is racing toward a proof‑of‑concept demo that will showcase a generative‑AI‑driven editing flow, slated for release this month. The timeline has already outpaced their original expectations—what they thought would take a year is now materializing in half that time.
As for the business model, Brussee appreciates Epic Games’ "we succeed when you succeed" philosophy but admits it’s too early to define a concrete revenue strategy. Ultimately, the founders hope Immens will empower creators to push artistic boundaries, take risks, and deliver innovative experiences. "We love games and want to see more daring, creative work," Brussee concluded.
"If our technology can help developers bring bold ideas to life, that would be amazing."