Unity and Unreal have long held sway over the game‑development landscape, accounting for roughly 70 % of all Steam releases in 2025. While Godot has made notable strides in recent years and large studios continue to rely on proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example—the duopoly of Unity and Unreal still dominates the market.
Enter Immens, a fledgling studio founded by three seasoned veterans: Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient. Their résumés read like a who’s‑who of the industry, featuring stints at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple. Together they believe there is still room for a fresh engine that not only competes with the established players but also addresses the shortcomings that have begun to frustrate developers.
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a new platform. “A few years ago this kind of engine didn’t exist,” he said. “With AI‑assisted programming we can start building from the ground up again, under tight guidance, and deliver full‑featured tools much faster.” Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, clarified that their use of AI differs from the hype‑driven “prompt‑to‑content” narrative that dominates headlines.
“We’re not trying to conjure assets with a single sentence,” he noted. “Our AI is baked into the engine’s architecture to make it highly extensible. Because AI can reason over large codebases, we can design the system so that even solo developers or tiny teams can plug in custom modules—say, a bespoke particle system—without being confined to a limited scripting layer.” The motivation behind this AI‑centric approach stems from the current economic pressures on game creators. Brussee described the market as “rough,” emphasizing that development costs are spiraling upward, making it increasingly difficult for small studios to survive.
“We need new ways of working that cut costs, shrink team sizes, and accelerate timelines,” he argued. “If we can reduce risk for developers, we keep studios alive and the medium vibrant.” De Jong, Immens’s chief product officer, observed that the engine space has become overly standardized and consolidated. While this has provided a solid foundation, he believes the industry now requires genuine innovation rather than incremental refinement.
“Continuing to do exactly what we’ve always done isn’t enough,” he said. “We need a different paradigm—one that embraces flexibility and user‑driven evolution.” A key criticism De Jong has of existing engines is their monolithic nature. Developers often must conform to proprietary file formats and workflows imposed by the engine’s designers.
With AI, Immens aims to flip this model on its head, delivering a platform that adapts to the user’s needs. “The engine must be interchangeable, appendable, and modifiable,” he explained. “I want to craft tools that match my personal workflow—exact shortcuts, interfaces, and features—so my team can work exactly the way we need to.” Valient also warned that AI, while powerful, can quickly go off‑track if left unchecked. To mitigate this, Immens is being built with transparency and control at its core.
Users will be able to see what the AI is doing, review its decision history, and ensure repeatable outcomes. This level of oversight enables developers to create bespoke tools for specific problems—such as generating a set of characters with particular traits—in minutes rather than weeks, dramatically lowering production costs.
Flexibility is baked into Immens’s design philosophy. The engine does not enforce a single workflow; instead, it offers a modular architecture that lets creators decide how much AI to incorporate and where. De Jong stressed that the framework must be robust enough to support varied approaches while still guaranteeing that the AI interprets instructions correctly. Interoperability is another cornerstone of Immens.
By adopting open, text‑based standards, the engine can seamlessly exchange data with popular tools like Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI pipeline. “When files are human‑readable, any system can parse them,” Brussee said.
“This openness lets the AI read, modify, and integrate assets without the friction that proprietary engines often introduce.” The broader conversation around AI in game development is polarized. Some commentators on LinkedIn hype the notion of “click‑to‑game” experiences where a single prompt could spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑scale world.
Immens’s team acknowledges that such extremes are speculative, but they view AI primarily as an accelerator for human creativity. “AI will make everyone better,” Valient asserted. “It’s a tool, not a replacement, and its disruptive impact is simply because it operates at an unprecedented scale.” Economic anxieties also linger, with many questioning whether the AI boom is a bubble. Valient compared the situation to the dot‑com era, noting that while many companies will fail, the underlying technology endures.
“AI isn’t disappearing,” he said. “The internet survived its bubble, and the same will happen with AI.
Our focus is on building a solid engine that leverages AI to speed development and enable bigger dreams.” Funding for Immens remains modest. The founders have secured initial commitments but have not disclosed exact figures, describing the amount as “reasonable.” Brussee cautioned against over‑capitalization, noting that excess cash can breed complacency. “Startups need to stay scrappy,” he laughed.
“Too much money can make you lazy.” The company remains lean—just the three founders and a handful of helpers—by design. De Jong explained that engine development is complex and cannot be tackled by a massive team; a focused, small group can make deliberate decisions and iterate efficiently. At the same time, they must balance this with the need to seize the current window of opportunity created by AI’s rise. Immens is currently building a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow, slated for release later this month.
Brussee revealed that the project, which began in April, is already progressing twice as fast as initially projected, underscoring the speed gains AI can provide. Regarding the business model, Brussee hinted that Immens admires Epic’s “we succeed when you succeed” licensing philosophy, but it is too early to commit to a specific approach. Ultimately, the founders hope their engine will empower developers to push creative boundaries, take risks, and deliver innovative experiences that move the industry forward.
“We love games and want to see more daring, artistic expression,” Brussee concluded. “If our technology can help make that happen, it would be amazing."