For many years, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces in game creation, accounting for roughly 70% of the titles released on Steam in 2025. While open‑source options like Godot have gained traction and some studios continue to rely on proprietary tools such as Capcom’s RE Engine, the market has largely been locked into the two big players. Against this backdrop, three seasoned industry veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—have founded Immens with the belief that a fresh, AI‑enhanced engine can still carve out a meaningful niche. The trio’s résumés read like a who’s‑who of modern game development.
Brussee and De Jong have spent years at Epic Games, the creators of Unreal, while Valient’s background includes stints at Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and Apple. Their combined experience gives them a unique perspective on both the strengths and the shortcomings of today’s leading engines. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a new platform because "the tools that existed a few years ago simply aren’t enough for what developers now need." According to Brussee, the breakthrough comes from "AI‑supported programming" that lets developers start from a clean slate and assemble functional systems more quickly than ever before.
He emphasizes that the AI isn’t about generating whole games from a single prompt; instead, it acts as an assistant that speeds up repetitive tasks and helps teams iterate faster. Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, expands on this by describing the AI as a means of making the engine itself highly extensible. "If we design the codebase with AI in mind, even a solo developer can add a custom particle system or a bespoke animation pipeline without having to dive into a massive monolithic code dump," he says. The motivation behind Immens is rooted in the current economic pressures facing developers.
Brussee paints a bleak picture: "Making games is getting more expensive, and the risk of failure is growing. We need new workflows that cut costs, shrink team sizes, and accelerate delivery so studios aren’t gambling their livelihoods on a single title." De Jong echoes this sentiment, noting that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated. While that consolidation provides a stable foundation, it also stifles innovation. "We’re at a point where the industry faces a host of challenges, and simply repeating the old formulas won’t solve them.
We need fresh ideas, not just more of the same," he asserts. One of the core criticisms De Jong has of existing engines is their "monolithic approach"—the necessity for developers to conform to rigid file formats and toolchains. With AI, Immens aims to flip that dynamic, allowing the engine to adapt to the user’s workflow rather than forcing the user to adapt to the engine. He envisions a system where developers can swap components, append new modules, and craft tailor‑made tools that match their personal shortcuts, UI preferences, and project‑specific requirements.
Valient is quick to acknowledge AI’s limitations. While he praises its power, he warns that unchecked AI can "go off the rails" if developers don’t maintain oversight.
Immens is therefore built with transparency in mind: users can see exactly what the AI is doing, review its decision history, and reproduce results reliably. This level of control turns the AI into a reliable collaborator rather than a black‑box. Flexibility is baked into Immens’s architecture.
De Jong stresses that the engine does not dictate a single workflow; instead, it provides a framework that developers can shape according to their needs, including how much AI assistance they want to employ. The team also prioritizes open standards, ensuring that text‑based assets are readable by any tool. "If your files are plain text, any program can parse them.
That means you can seamlessly integrate Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI tool without fighting proprietary formats," Brussee explains. This openness is intended to foster smoother pipelines and avoid the isolation that many current engines impose. The broader conversation about AI in game development is often polarized. Some commentators on platforms like LinkedIn predict a future where entire AAA‑level experiences can be conjured with a single prompt.
Immens’s founders temper such hype, describing AI as a powerful "tool" rather than a magic wand. Valient believes that AI will elevate the entire industry, making developers more capable, but he also acknowledges the negative connotations that arise when a disruptive technology reshapes established practices. Economic concerns also surface, especially regarding the hype‑driven valuations surrounding AI startups.
Valient draws a parallel with the dot‑com bubble, noting that while many companies will fall, the underlying technology endures. "AI isn’t disappearing.
The internet survived its bubble, and so will AI. Our focus is on building a solid engine that leverages AI to accelerate development, not on chasing inflated valuations," he says. Funding for Immens remains modest at this stage.
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 deliberately remains lean—just the three founders plus a handful of helpers—to stay agile and maintain a scrappy mindset.
Balancing team size with ambition is a delicate act. De Jong points out that creating a game engine is a complex undertaking that cannot be solved by throwing a million engineers at the problem. A focused, small team can make thoughtful decisions and iterate efficiently, especially given the narrow window of opportunity presented by the AI surge.
Immens is currently developing a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow. The goal is to release this demo within the month, a timeline that has already outpaced the founders’ original expectations. "We thought we’d need until the end of the year, but we’re already twice as fast," Brussee remarks. When asked about the eventual business model, Brussee mentions admiration for Epic’s revenue‑share philosophy—"we succeed when you succeed"—but admits it’s too early to commit to a specific approach.
Ultimately, the team hopes their engine will empower creators to push artistic boundaries, take bigger risks, and deliver innovative experiences. "We love games and want to see more creativity and risk‑taking. If our technology can help make that happen, it would be amazing," concludes Brussee.