For many years, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces in game development, together powering roughly 70% of the titles that appeared on Steam in 2025. While open‑source alternatives such as Godot have made noticeable strides, the market is still heavily weighted toward proprietary solutions – even large studios cling to in‑house engines like Capcom’s RE Engine. In this landscape, the trio of industry veterans Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient have decided that there is still room for a fresh approach.
Their new venture, Immens, is set to introduce an AI‑enhanced engine that promises greater flexibility, lower costs, and faster iteration for small teams. The founders bring a résumé that reads like a who’s‑who of modern game development.
Brussee spent years at Epic Games, the creators of Unreal, and later contributed to Guerrilla Games and Apple. De Jong’s background includes leadership roles at Boss Key and other high‑profile studios, while Valient has deep technical experience building tools for large‑scale projects. Together they argue that the status quo – a market dominated by a few monolithic engines – is ripe for disruption. 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 an AI‑assisted workflow didn’t exist in a practical sense. Now, with AI‑supported programming, we can start from a clean slate and deliver full‑featured tools much more quickly," he said.
Valient, Immens’ chief technology officer, clarified that their use of AI is not about generating assets with a simple prompt. 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 bespoke physics module without having to rewrite large sections of core code," he noted. The motivation behind Immens is also economic. Brussee described the current climate as "rough" for developers, with production budgets ballooning and risk levels climbing. "Games are getting more expensive, and studios need a way out of that cycle.
We have to find more efficient methods that let smaller teams deliver high‑quality experiences without jeopardising their livelihood," he argued. De Jong echoed this sentiment, pointing out that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated. While that consolidation has provided a solid foundation, it has also stifled innovation.
"The industry now faces a range of challenges, and simply iterating on existing tools isn’t enough. We need genuine breakthroughs, not just more of the same," he asserted. One of the core criticisms De Jong has of current engines is their monolithic nature. Developers are forced to adapt to proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines, which can hinder creativity.
By contrast, Immens aims to be a chameleon that molds itself to the developer’s workflow. "Flexibility is key.
You should be able to swap components, append new features, and build custom tools that match your exact workflow – from shortcuts to UI layout – without fighting the engine," he explained. Valient is realistic about AI’s limits. While he acknowledges its power, he warns that unchecked AI can quickly go off‑track. To mitigate this, Immersive ensures that users retain full control and visibility over the engine’s actions.
"You always know what the AI is doing, you can trace its decisions, and you can reproduce results reliably," he said. This transparency enables developers to create throw‑away tools for specific tasks – such as generating five characters with a unique trait in minutes – and discard them once the job is done, a process that previously would have taken weeks and a sizable budget. Immens is deliberately built on open standards, allowing seamless interoperability with popular tools like Blender, Maya, and other generative pipelines. "When files are text‑based, any program can read them.
The AI can parse those files and act on them, which means we can plug in existing software without fighting proprietary barriers," Brussee noted. This openness is intended to foster a more collaborative ecosystem where engines, asset creators, and AI modules speak a common language.
There is a vocal backlash against AI in game development, with some commentators on LinkedIn predicting a future where entire open‑world games could be conjured with a single prompt. Immens’ team acknowledges the hype but positions AI as a powerful assistant rather than a replacement.
Valient believes AI will elevate the entire industry: "Big titles and indie projects alike will benefit because AI makes everyone more capable. The current negative perception stems from the sheer scale of disruption we’re witnessing." Economic concerns also loom large.
Critics worry that the AI boom is a bubble with inflated valuations. Valient draws a parallel with the dot‑com era, arguing that while many companies will fall, the underlying technology will endure. "AI isn’t disappearing.
The internet survived its bubble, and so will AI. Our focus is on building a solid engine; the AI simply accelerates our development and expands our creative horizons," he said. Funding for Immens remains modest. The founders have secured initial commitments but have not disclosed exact figures, describing the amount as "reasonable".
Brussee cautions against excessive capital, noting that too much money can breed complacency. The company remains a lean operation: the three founders plus a handful of helpers. This small‑team approach is intentional, as both Brussee and De Jong believe that a focused group can make critical decisions faster than a massive, bureaucratic staff. Immens is currently targeting a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow.
The team aimed to have this ready by year‑end but has already accelerated the timeline, expecting a public demo within the month. "We thought it would take us until December, but we’re already twice as fast as anticipated," Brussee reported. Regarding the business model, Immens is still exploring options.
While they admire Epic Games’ philosophy of sharing revenue only when developers succeed, they consider it premature to lock in a specific approach. Ultimately, Brussee hopes Immens will enable creators to push the boundaries of what games can be. "We love games as an art form and want to see more risk‑taking and creativity.
If our technology can help spark that innovation, it would be amazing," he concluded.