For many years Unity and Unreal have reigned supreme in the game‑development world, accounting for roughly 70% of the titles that appeared on Steam in 2025. While Godot has made noticeable strides recently and some large studios cling to proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example—the market has largely been a duopoly. Yet three seasoned veterans, Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong and Michal Valient, have founded Immens with the conviction that there is still space for a fresh engine and, more importantly, for a better way to build games.
The three founders bring a résumé that reads like a who’s‑who of the industry: experience at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee argued that the timing is now right for a new platform that simply did not exist a few years ago. He believes that AI‑assisted programming can let developers start from a clean slate again, providing “a lot of guidance and control” while delivering full‑featured tools quickly. Valient, Immens’ chief technology officer, clarifies that the AI they employ is not the kind that generates assets from a single prompt.
Instead, it is woven into the engine’s architecture to make the codebase highly extensible. "AI can reason about massive amounts of data and code," he explains. "If we design the engine with that capability in mind, even a solo developer can plug in a custom particle system or any other feature without being limited to superficial scripting.
The AI helps you extend the engine faster, not replace the developer." The motivation behind Immens is rooted in the current economic climate of game development. Brussee describes the situation as "rough": production budgets are swelling, timelines are stretching, and the risk of failure is rising.
He asks whether new workflows can break this cycle, allowing smaller teams to deliver high‑quality experiences with fewer resources. De Jong, the chief product officer, echoes this sentiment, noting that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated. While standardization provides a solid foundation, the industry now needs genuine innovation rather than incremental tweaks.
A key criticism De Jong levels at existing engines is their monolithic nature. Developers must adapt to rigid, proprietary file formats and workflows, often spending valuable time on boilerplate rather than creativity. With AI, Immens aims to flip that script: the engine should adapt to the developer, not the other way around.
"It needs to be very flexible," he says. "You can swap components, append new ones, modify existing tools, and build interfaces that match exactly what your team requires." Valient acknowledges AI’s power but also its volatility.
He stresses that Immens will keep users in the driver’s seat, offering full transparency about what the engine is doing and why. This traceability ensures repeatable results and lets developers craft bespoke tools for specific tasks—like generating five characters with a unique trait in minutes instead of weeks.
Such rapid, disposable workflows were once prohibitively expensive; now they become a routine part of the creative process. Flexibility is baked into Immens’ design. The framework does not force a single workflow; developers decide how much AI to incorporate and where. De Jong adds that the architecture is deliberately open, allowing seamless integration with other software.
By using text‑based, open‑standard file formats, the engine can communicate with tools like Blender, Maya, or any generative system without the friction typical of closed, proprietary pipelines. "When everything speaks a common language, you can plug in any tool and have it work together," Brussee notes.
The broader conversation about AI in games is polarized. Some pundits on LinkedIn hype "click‑to‑game" engines that could conjure a Grand Theft Auto‑scale world from a single prompt.
Immens’ team sees AI more modestly—as a powerful assistant rather than a magical creator. Valient believes AI will elevate the entire industry, making both blockbuster and indie projects better, while also warning that the technology’s disruptive scale can generate negative perceptions. Economic anxieties also swirl around AI, with many questioning whether the sector is a bubble.
Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era: the internet didn’t disappear, even though many early companies failed. He argues that solid products built on good technology will survive, and Immens is focused on delivering a high‑quality engine first, using AI to accelerate development and expand creative horizons. Whether the market is in a bubble remains uncertain, but the team is confident that the underlying technology is here to stay. Funding details remain vague.
Immens has secured its "first commitments" but has not disclosed amounts, describing them as "reasonable." Brussee cautions against over‑capitalisation, noting that too much money can breed complacency and diminish the scrappy mindset essential for a startup. The company currently consists of the three founders plus a handful of helpers, intentionally keeping the team lean to make decisive, thoughtful progress.
Immens is racing toward a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow, slated for release this month. The timeline has already outpaced the founders’ original expectations; what was projected to take until year‑end is now arriving in half that time.
While the business model is still being refined, Brussee admires Epic’s "we succeed when you succeed" licensing approach but says it is too early to commit to any specific structure. Ultimately, the trio hopes Immens will empower creators to push the medium forward. "We love games and want to see more risk‑taking, more creativity," Brussee says.
"If our technology can help developers build innovative experiences that wouldn’t have been possible before, that would be amazing."