For many years, Unity and Unreal have been the go‑to platforms for game creators, accounting for roughly 70 % of all titles launched on Steam in 2025. While Godot has made notable strides recently and some major studios cling to proprietary tools—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example—the market has largely been dominated by the two giants. Yet three seasoned industry veterans, Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient, have decided that there is still room for a fresh contender, and they are betting on artificial intelligence to give it an edge. The founders of Immens bring a résumé that reads like a who’s‑who of game development history.
Their careers have spanned Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple’s internal game‑tech teams. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee argued that the timing is ripe for a new engine that simply didn’t exist a few years ago. “With AI‑assisted programming, you can start building from scratch again,” he explained. “Guided by intelligent tools, you can achieve full‑featured functionality much faster than before.” Valient, Immens’ chief technology officer, is quick to clarify that the AI they are leveraging is not the kind that generates assets from a single text prompt.
Instead, the AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make it highly extensible. “If we design the codebase with AI in mind, even a solo developer can add a custom particle system or a bespoke gameplay mechanic without wrestling with opaque scripting layers,” he said. The goal is to let creators extend the engine quickly, using AI as a reasoning engine that understands large codebases and data structures.
The motivation behind this ambitious project stems from the current climate of game development, which Brussee describes as “rough.” Production costs keep climbing, and studios of all sizes are feeling the pressure to deliver bigger experiences with fewer resources. “We need new ways of working, more efficient pipelines, and tools that let small teams ship high‑quality games without risking everything,” he warned.
De Jong, the chief product officer, echoed this sentiment, noting that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated. While standardization provides a solid foundation, the industry now demands genuine innovation rather than incremental tweaks. One of the core criticisms De Jong has of existing engines is their monolithic nature. Developers must adapt to proprietary file formats and rigid workflows, which can stifle creativity.
With AI, Immens aims to flip this model on its head: the engine should adapt to the developer, not the other way around. “Flexibility is key,” he asserted. “You should be able to swap components, append new modules, and craft tools that match your personal workflow—down to the exact shortcuts, UI layout, and feature set you need for your project.” Valient acknowledges that AI is a double‑edged sword.
While it is immensely powerful, it can also produce unpredictable results if left unchecked. To mitigate this, Immens is building transparency into the system. Users will always see what the AI is doing, retain a full history of changes, and be able to reproduce results reliably. This level of control, he believes, will empower creators to iterate rapidly—imagine designing five distinct characters with specific traits in the time it takes to sip a coffee, then discarding the temporary tooling once the job is done.
Immens’ philosophy is to avoid imposing a single workflow on its users. The architecture is deliberately modular, allowing developers to decide how much AI assistance they want and where to apply it. De Jong emphasizes that the framework is built on open standards, meaning that text‑based files can be read and manipulated by any compatible tool.
“If you’re using Blender, Maya, or a generative‑AI pipeline, you can plug it straight into Immens because everything speaks the same language,” he explained. This openness contrasts with many proprietary engines that act as closed ecosystems, hindering interoperability.
The conversation around AI in game development is often polarized. Some commentators on platforms like LinkedIn hype the notion of “click‑to‑game” engines that could conjure a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience from a single prompt. Immens’ team acknowledges that such extremes are speculative, but they see AI primarily as a productivity enhancer. “AI will make every developer better,” Valient said.
“It’s a tool, not a magic wand, and like any technology it can be misused. Our responsibility is to guide its use in a constructive way.” Economic anxieties also swirl around the AI boom, with fears of a bubble and inflated valuations. Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era: the internet didn’t disappear when the bubble burst; instead, the strongest companies survived and thrived.
“We’re focused on building a solid engine first. AI helps us iterate faster and think bigger, but the core product must stand on its own merits,” he noted. Funding remains modest at this stage. Immens has secured its “first commitments,” though the exact amount is undisclosed and described only as “reasonable.” Brussee cautions against excessive capital, warning that too much money can breed complacency.
The company remains lean—just the three founders plus a handful of helpers—by design. De Jong explains that creating an engine is a complex endeavor that cannot be solved by simply throwing a large team at it; a small, focused group is better suited to make critical decisions and iterate quickly. The team is currently working on a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow. They aim to release this demo within the month, already moving at double the speed they initially projected when they started in April.
While the business model is still under discussion, Brussee admires Epic’s “we succeed when you succeed” licensing approach, though he admits it’s too early to commit to any specific plan. Ultimately, the founders hope Immens will enable more daring, artistic games to reach the market. “We love games as a form of complex expression,” Brussee concluded. “We want to see more creativity, more risk‑taking, and innovations built on technology that empowers rather than restricts.
If we can contribute to that future, it would be amazing.”