For years, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces shaping the video‑game development landscape, together accounting for roughly 70% of the titles launched 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 controlled by the two giants. Enter Immens, a fledgling venture founded by three seasoned veterans: Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient.
Their résumés read like a who's‑who of the industry, with stints at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple. The trio believes there is still room for a fresh engine that addresses the shortcomings of the current offerings and leverages the latest advances in artificial intelligence.
In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a new platform. “A few years ago this kind of engine simply didn’t exist,” he said. “Now, 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 the AI they are employing is not the typical “prompt‑to‑output” model that dominates headlines. Instead, the AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make it highly extensible.
“If we design the codebase with AI reasoning in mind, even solo developers or tiny teams can plug in custom systems—like a bespoke particle effect—without being confined to a limited scripting layer,” he explained. “The goal is to let creators use AI to accelerate extensions, not replace them.” The motivation behind this ambitious project stems from the harsh realities of today’s game market.
Brussee described the environment as “rough,” noting that development costs keep climbing and the risk of financial ruin for small studios is growing. “We need new ways of working that cut costs, shrink team sizes, and shorten timelines,” he argued. “If we can make games cheaper and faster, we protect studios’ livelihoods.” De Jong, Immens’s chief product officer, warned that the engine space has become overly standardized and consolidated. While that consolidation has provided a solid foundation, it also stifles innovation.
“The industry faces a suite of challenges, and simply repeating the old playbook won’t cut it,” he said. “We need breakthrough ideas, not more of the same.” One of De Jong’s key criticisms of existing engines is their monolithic nature.
Developers are forced to adapt to proprietary file formats and rigid workflows. With AI, Immens aims to flip that paradigm, offering an engine that molds itself to the developer’s needs. “Flexibility is essential,” he noted.
“You should be able to swap components, append new ones, and craft tools that match your personal workflow—down to the exact shortcuts, UI layout, and feature set you require.” Valient acknowledges that AI, while powerful, can be unpredictable if left unchecked. To mitigate this, Immens is built to keep the user in full control. “You always see what the engine is doing, its decision history, and you can reproduce results reliably,” he said.
“This transparency lets you create disposable tools for specific tasks—like generating five characters with a unique trait in minutes—without the weeks‑long manual effort that used to be necessary.” The flexibility of Immens extends to its openness. The team is committed to using open standards so the engine can interoperate seamlessly with other tools such as Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI pipeline. “When files are text‑based, any software can read them,” Brussee explained. “Our AI can parse those files and act on them, enabling a truly connected ecosystem rather than a closed, proprietary silo.” Despite a vocal backlash against AI in game development—some critics warn of a future where a single prompt could spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience—the Immens founders view AI as a powerful assistant, not a replacement.
Valient believes AI will make developers better, even if the technology currently carries negative connotations due to its disruptive scale. “Every tool can be misused,” De Jong added. “Our responsibility is to guide its use in a constructive, ethical manner.” Economic anxieties also swirl around the AI boom, with many questioning whether the sector is a bubble.
Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era: “The internet didn’t disappear after the bubble burst; many companies fell, but the technology endured. We’re focused on building a genuinely good engine.
AI accelerates us and lets us dream bigger, but whether the market is a bubble is still unknown.” Funding remains modest. Immens has secured its “first commitments” but has not disclosed amounts, emphasizing that excessive capital can breed complacency. “Too much money can make a startup lazy,” Brussee joked. “We prefer to stay scrappy.” The company remains a lean operation—just the three founders plus a handful of helpers—by design.
De Jong stresses that a game engine is a complex undertaking that cannot be solved by throwing a massive team at it. “You need a small, focused group to make deliberate decisions and iterate,” he said. “At the same time, we must seize the narrow window of opportunity created by AI’s rise, balancing resources without over‑staffing.” Immens is currently racing toward a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow, slated for release later this month.
Brussee revealed that the team originally projected a year‑long timeline, yet they are already moving twice as fast. “Predicting exact milestones is tough, but the speed gains are encouraging.” The business model is still under discussion.
While Immens admires Epic’s “we succeed when you succeed” licensing philosophy, Brussee cautioned that it’s too early to commit to a specific approach. Ultimately, the founders hope their engine will empower creators to push the medium forward. “We love games as an art form and want to see more risk‑taking and creativity,” Brussee concluded. “If our technology can help bring that vision to life, that would be amazing."