For many years, Unity and Unreal have been the go‑to tools for game creators, together powering roughly 70 % of the titles that appeared on Steam in 2025. While open‑source alternatives such as Godot have enjoyed a surge in popularity, the market remains largely dominated by proprietary solutions – Capcom’s in‑house RE Engine being a notable example. In this landscape, three seasoned developers – Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient – believe there is still room for a fresh engine that addresses the shortcomings of the status quo. The trio are the founders of Immens, a startup that aims to combine cutting‑edge artificial intelligence with a highly modular engine architecture.
Their résumés read like a roll‑call of industry heavyweights: experience at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple. With that pedigree, they feel confident in challenging the entrenched giants. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a new engine because “the tools that existed a couple of years ago simply don’t meet today’s needs.” He added that AI‑assisted programming now makes it possible to start building a game from a clean slate while still retaining tight control over the development pipeline.
"With the right guidance, you can assemble a fully functional product much faster than before," he said. Valient, Immens’ chief technology officer, clarified that the AI component is not about generating assets with a single prompt, as popular hype might suggest.
Instead, the AI is woven into the engine’s core to make the codebase highly extensible. "AI can analyse massive amounts of data and understand the structure of a codebase,” he explained. “If we design the engine with that capability in mind, even a solo developer can plug in a custom particle system or a bespoke animation tool without having to rewrite large sections of the engine. The AI simply assists the developer in extending the system quickly and safely." The motivation behind Immens stems from the current economic pressures facing developers.
Brussee described the environment as "rough" and warned that development costs are spiralling. "Games are becoming more expensive to make, and studios are risking everything on a single title. We need new workflows that lower the barrier to entry, let smaller teams ship faster, and keep budgets realistic," he said. De Jong, the chief product officer, pointed out that the engine market has entered a phase of "standardisation and consolidation." While this has produced stable platforms, it also stifles innovation.
"The industry now faces a series of challenges – rising costs, talent shortages, and a homogenised toolset. Continuing on the same path won’t solve those problems.
We need a breakthrough, not another incremental update," he argued. One of the pain points De Jong highlighted is the "monolithic approach" of existing engines. Developers must adapt to proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines, which can hinder creativity. With AI‑driven flexibility, Immens aims to let the engine adapt to the developer, not the other way around.
"You should be able to swap components, append new modules, or redesign the UI to match your personal workflow. If I need a tool that mirrors my past experience, I can build it with the exact shortcuts, panels, and features my team requires," he said. Valient also warned that AI, while powerful, can behave unpredictably if left unchecked.
To mitigate this, Immens is built with transparency and control at its core. "When you use our engine, you always know what the AI is doing, why it made a particular change, and you can reproduce the result. This audit‑trail approach keeps the creative process reliable and repeatable," he noted. The team illustrated the potential time savings with a simple example: creating five characters with a unique trait that would previously take weeks could now be prototyped over a coffee break.
The resulting tool could be reused several times and then discarded, dramatically cutting costs. Such on‑the‑fly workflow generation, powered by AI, is what Immens believes will democratise high‑quality game production. Flexibility is baked into the engine’s architecture.
De Jong emphasised that Immens does not force a single workflow on its users. "You decide how much AI you want to involve and where. The framework is deliberately open so you can tailor it to any project size or style," he said.
Interoperability is another pillar of the design. By embracing open standards and text‑based file formats, Immens ensures seamless communication with tools like Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI pipeline. "If a file is human‑readable, any software can parse it.
The AI can then manipulate those assets directly, creating a smoother pipeline across the entire production chain," Brussee explained. The broader industry conversation around AI in games is mixed.
Some commentators on LinkedIn hype the notion of "click‑to‑game" engines that could produce Grand Theft Auto‑scale experiences from a single prompt. Immens’ founders acknowledge that such a vision may eventually materialise, but they stress that AI should be viewed as a powerful assistant rather than a magic wand.
"AI makes developers better, not replaces them. It’s a tool, and like any tool it can be misused, but it also has the capacity to unlock unprecedented creativity," Valient said. Economic concerns also surface, 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 will persist. "AI isn’t disappearing. The internet survived its bubble, and the same will happen with AI.
Our focus is on building a solid engine that leverages AI to accelerate development, not on chasing hype," he remarked. Funding for Immens remains modest. The founders have secured "first commitments" but have not disclosed exact figures, describing the amount as "reasonable." Brussee warned against over‑funding, saying it can breed complacency. "Start‑ups need to stay scrappy; too much cash can make you lazy," he laughed.
The company remains a lean operation, consisting of the three founders and a handful of helpers. This small‑team approach is intentional, as De Jong explained that building an engine is a complex endeavour that benefits from focused decision‑making rather than a massive workforce. "You need a tight group to iterate quickly and make the right architectural choices.
At the same time, you must have enough resources to hit the market window created by AI’s rise. Balancing those forces is the challenge we’re navigating," he said. Immens is currently developing a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow. The team aims to release the demo within the month, already having accelerated their timeline by a factor of two compared to the original estimate.
"We expected to be finished by year‑end, but we’re ahead of schedule, which makes it hard to predict exact milestones," Brussee admitted. Regarding the business model, Brussee hinted that Immens admires Epic’s revenue‑share philosophy – "we succeed when you succeed" – but it is still too early to lock in a definitive approach. The ultimate goal, he said, is to empower creators to push the medium forward. "We love games and the artistic expression they enable.
We want to see more risk‑taking, more innovation, and more diverse voices. If Immens can provide the tools that make those dreams feasible, that would be amazing," Brussee concluded.