For years, Unity and Unreal have been the de‑facto tools for game creation, accounting for roughly 70 % of Steam releases slated for 2025. While Godot has carved out a modest niche and some studios cling to proprietary solutions such as Capcom’s RE Engine, the market has largely been a duopoly.
Against this backdrop, three seasoned developers—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—have launched Immens, an AI‑enhanced engine that they believe can break the cycle of ever‑rising costs and shrinking margins. The founders’ résumés read 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 ripe for a fresh engine because the technology landscape has shifted dramatically in the past few years. “With AI‑assisted programming, you can start from a clean slate again,” he said.
“Guided by intelligent tools, you can assemble a fully‑featured pipeline far more quickly than before.” Valient, Immens’ chief technology officer, clarified that their use of AI is not about “prompt‑to‑asset” magic but about constructing an engine that is inherently extensible. He explained that AI excels at reasoning over large codebases and data sets, so if the engine’s architecture is designed with that capability in mind, even solo developers can inject custom systems—such as a bespoke particle renderer—without wrestling with low‑level scripting. “We want people to be able to say, ‘I need a custom particle system, let me add it here,’ and have AI help them implement it swiftly,” he noted.
The motivation behind Immens is rooted in the current economic climate of game development. Brussee described the environment as “rough,” pointing out that production budgets keep inflating while the risk of failure grows. “We need new workflows that shrink costs, let smaller teams ship faster, and protect studios from existential risk,” he argued. De Jong, the chief product officer, echoed this sentiment, saying the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated, offering a solid foundation but lacking the innovation needed to tackle emerging challenges.
According to De Jong, today’s engines follow a monolithic approach: developers must adapt to rigid pipelines, proprietary file formats, and fixed toolsets. By contrast, an AI‑centric engine could become malleable, allowing developers to swap modules, append features, or craft tailor‑made tools that match their personal workflows.
“Imagine building a UI that mirrors your exact shortcuts, features, and interface preferences,” he said. “That level of personalization is what we aim to enable.” Valient warned that AI, while powerful, can “go off the rails” if left unchecked. Immens therefore emphasizes transparency and control: users can trace every AI‑generated change, understand its history, and ensure repeatability.
He illustrated this with a hypothetical scenario—creating five characters with a specific trait. In a traditional pipeline, such a task might take weeks of manual work.
With AI assistance, a developer could sketch the concept over coffee, generate the assets, iterate, and discard the helper tool once the job is done, dramatically reducing cost. Flexibility is baked into Immens’ core design. De Jong stressed that the engine does not dictate a single workflow; instead, it offers a scaffolding where teams decide how much AI to incorporate and where.
The architecture is deliberately open, leveraging text‑based file formats and industry‑standard interchange protocols. Brussee highlighted that this openness lets the AI read and manipulate files directly, facilitating seamless integration with tools like Blender, Maya, or any generative‑art system. “When everything speaks a common language, you can plug in whatever you need without fighting proprietary barriers,” he explained.
The broader conversation around AI in game development is polarized. Some commentators on LinkedIn predict a future where a single prompt spawns a Grand Theft Auto‑level experience, fueling fears of “click‑to‑game” solutions that could undermine craftsmanship.
Immens’ team acknowledges that such extremes might one day be possible, but they view AI primarily as an accelerator for human creativity rather than a replacement. “AI will make everyone better, not replace them,” Valient said. “It carries negative connotations now because it’s disrupting at a scale no one has seen before.” Economic anxieties also loom large.
Critics worry that AI‑focused startups are inflating a bubble reminiscent of the dot‑com era. Valient responded that AI is not a passing fad: “The internet didn’t disappear after the bubble burst; the weak players fell away, and the strong ones survived.” Immens aims to be one of those durable products, focusing on building a solid engine first and letting AI speed up development and inspire bigger dreams. Funding remains modest. Immens has secured its “first commitments” but has not disclosed amounts, describing them as “reasonable.” Brussee cautioned against over‑funding, noting that excess capital can breed complacency and erode the scrappy mindset essential for a startup.
The company remains a lean operation—just the three founders plus a handful of helpers—by design, believing that a small, focused team can make critical architectural decisions without the overhead of a massive staff. Immens is currently targeting a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI editing flow, slated for release later this month. The timeline has already outpaced initial expectations: what was projected to take until year‑end is now arriving in half that time. While the business model is still under discussion, Brussee expressed admiration for Epic’s “we succeed when you succeed” licensing philosophy, though he admitted it’s too early to commit to a specific approach.
Ultimately, the founders hope Immens will empower creators to push the medium forward. “We love games and want to see more daring, artistic expression,” Brussee concluded. “If our technology can lower barriers, spark risk‑taking, and fuel innovation, that would be amazing.”