For years, Unity and Unreal have been the go‑to tools for game creators, accounting for roughly 70 % of the titles launched on Steam in 2025. While Godot has enjoyed a surge in popularity and some studios cling to proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a notable example—the market has largely been dominated by the two giants. Against this backdrop, three seasoned industry veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—have launched Immens, a new AI‑enhanced game engine that aims to carve out space for a more flexible, cost‑effective development paradigm. The founders bring an impressive résumé: experience at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple.
Their collective background gives them a unique perspective on why the status quo may no longer serve the evolving needs of developers. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee argued that the timing is ripe for a fresh engine, noting that "a few years ago the idea didn’t exist, but with AI‑supported programming we can start building from scratch again." Valient, Immens’ chief technology officer, stresses that the AI component is not about generating content from a single prompt, as popular media sometimes suggests.
Instead, the AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make the codebase highly extensible. He explains, "AI can reason over large codebases and data sets. If we design the engine with that capability in mind, even solo developers or tiny teams can add custom systems—like a bespoke particle system—without being limited to superficial scripting." The motivation behind Immens is rooted in the current economic pressures of game development. Brussee describes the landscape as "rough," with production costs climbing and the risk of failure increasing for small studios.
He asks, "How can we break this cycle? Can we find more efficient ways to work that lower budgets and reduce team size without sacrificing quality?" The answer, according to Immens, lies in leveraging AI to accelerate iteration and automate repetitive tasks, thereby shrinking both time and money required to bring a game to market. De Jong, the chief product officer, points out that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated.
While this has provided a solid foundation, it also stifles innovation. "We need a shift from standardisation to genuine innovation," he says. He criticises the "monolithic approach" of existing engines, where developers must conform to proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines. With AI, Immens aims to deliver a system that adapts to the developer’s workflow rather than forcing developers to adapt to the engine.
Flexibility is a core tenet of Immens. De Jong envisions a toolset where users can swap components, append new features, and craft bespoke interfaces tailored to their personal or team preferences.
"I can build tools that match exactly how I work—specific shortcuts, UI layouts, and feature sets—so the engine becomes an extension of my creative process," he explains. Valient acknowledges that AI is a double‑edged sword.
While it is "really powerful," it can also "go off the rails" if left unchecked. To mitigate this, Immens is built with transparency and control at its core.
Users can trace every AI‑driven decision, review its history, and ensure repeatability. This level of oversight allows developers to create disposable, high‑speed workflows—such as generating five uniquely‑behaved characters in minutes rather than weeks—without losing ownership of the underlying logic. The engine does not impose a single workflow.
De Jong stresses that Immens provides a framework that lets creators decide how much AI to incorporate and where. The architecture is deliberately open, supporting text‑based file formats and industry‑standard interchange protocols. Brussee notes that "when files are text‑based, any tool can read them," enabling seamless integration with popular software like Blender, Maya, or other generative pipelines.
This openness contrasts with many proprietary engines that act as closed ecosystems, hindering interoperability. Public sentiment towards AI in game development is mixed. Some critics, especially on platforms like LinkedIn, sensationalise the technology, claiming that a simple prompt could spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience.
Immens’ team tempers such hype, describing AI as a "tool" rather than a magic button. Valient believes that AI will make developers better, not replace them, and that responsible usage will shape a positive future.
De Jong adds that, like any technology, AI can be misused, but the industry has a duty to harness it constructively. Economic anxieties also surface, with many questioning whether AI‑focused ventures are riding a speculative bubble. Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era, noting that while many companies vanished, the underlying internet persisted and flourished.
He argues that Immens is focused on building a genuinely useful engine; AI merely accelerates the process and expands creative horizons. Whether the market is in a bubble remains uncertain, but the team remains confident in their product’s intrinsic value. Funding details are still under wraps.
Immens has secured its "first commitments" but has not disclosed amounts, describing the capital sought as "reasonable." Brussee warns against over‑funding, suggesting that excess cash can breed complacency. The company intentionally remains lean—just the three founders and a handful of helpers—to stay agile and scrappy, which he believes is essential for a complex undertaking like building an engine. Development is already progressing faster than anticipated.
Immens aims to release a proof‑of‑concept demo this month that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing flow. Brussee admits that the original timeline projected an end‑of‑year launch, yet the team is already moving at double that speed. While the exact business model is still being refined, they admire Epic Games' "we succeed when you succeed" philosophy, though it is too early for concrete commitments. Ultimately, the founders hope Immens will empower creators to push the boundaries of interactive art.
"We love games and want to see more risk‑taking, more creativity," says Brussee. "If our technology can help developers innovate and bring fresh experiences to players, that would be amazing."