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 recently and some major studios continue to rely on proprietary tools—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example—the market has largely been dominated by these two giants. Enter Immersive’s founders—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—who believe there is still room for a fresh engine and, more importantly, for meaningful improvement.
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 Apple. Together, they are set to challenge the status quo. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee argued that the timing is ripe for a new engine that simply didn’t exist a few years ago.
“With AI‑assisted programming, we can start building from scratch again,” he said. “Guided yet flexible development lets us deliver full‑featured tools quickly.” Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, clarified that their use of AI diverges from the hype‑driven “prompt‑to‑output” narrative. “Our AI isn’t about conjuring assets from a sentence,” he explained.
“It’s about constructing an engine architecture that is inherently extensible. AI excels at reasoning over massive codebases.
If we design the core with that capability in mind, even solo developers can plug in custom systems—say, a bespoke particle engine—without being limited to superficial scripting.” The motivation behind this AI‑powered platform stems from the current market climate, which Brussee describes as “rough.” Game development costs are soaring, making it increasingly difficult for small teams to survive. “We need new workflows that lower expenses, shrink team sizes, and accelerate timelines,” he asserted. “Otherwise studios risk their livelihoods.” De Jong, Immens’s chief product officer, noted that the engine space has become overly standardized and consolidated.
While this has provided a solid foundation, it also stifles innovation. “The industry faces a suite of challenges, and repeating the old playbook won’t solve them,” he said. “We need genuine innovation, not just more of the same.” A key criticism De Jong levels at existing engines is their monolithic nature.
Developers must adapt to rigid, proprietary file formats and workflows. With AI, however, the engine can become a malleable partner that bends to the creator’s needs. “Flexibility is essential,” he emphasized.
“You should be able to swap components, append new features, and craft bespoke tools that match your personal workflow—down to the shortcuts, UI layout, and specific functionalities your project demands.” Valient acknowledges AI’s power but warns of its volatility. “AI is incredibly capable, yet it can go off the rails if left unchecked,” he cautioned. Immens therefore places control firmly in the user’s hands.
“You always know what the engine is doing, you can trace its decision history, and you can reproduce results reliably. You can also spin up temporary tools for specific tasks—like generating five characters with a unique trait—in minutes rather than weeks. That kind of rapid, disposable workflow used to be prohibitively expensive.” Flexibility is baked into Immens’s DNA. The platform does not enforce a single workflow; instead, it offers a framework that lets developers decide how much AI to incorporate and where.
“The architecture is deliberately open,” De Jong explained. “We want creators to pick and choose the AI assistance that makes sense for them, while ensuring the AI interprets their intent correctly.” Interoperability is another pillar of Immens’s design. By embracing open standards and text‑based file formats, the engine can communicate seamlessly with tools like Blender, Maya, or any generative system. “When files are human‑readable, any software can parse them,” Brussee said.
“This opens the door for smarter interfaces across the entire pipeline, something proprietary engines have historically resisted.” The broader AI debate in game development is heated, with some pundits on LinkedIn proclaiming that a single prompt could soon spawn Grand‑Theft‑Auto‑level experiences. Immens’s team concedes that “click‑to‑game” engines might someday exist, but they stress that AI should remain a tool, not a replacement for human creativity. “AI will make everyone better, not do the work for them,” Valient asserted. “Its current negative perception stems from the disruptive scale of change, which always scares people.” De Jong adds a note of responsibility: “We must use AI responsibly.
Every tool can be misused; it’s up to us to guide its application toward positive outcomes.” Economic anxieties also swirl around AI, with many fearing a bubble of over‑valued startups. Valient likens the situation to the dot‑com era: “AI isn’t disappearing. The internet survived the bubble; many companies vanished, but the technology endured. Our goal is to build a solid engine that leverages AI to accelerate development and expand imagination.
Whether we’re in a bubble is uncertain, but history shows the underlying tech persists.” Funding remains modest. Immens has secured its “first commitments” but has not disclosed amounts, describing them as “reasonable.” Brussee warns against over‑capitalization: “Too much money can make a startup complacent. Scrappiness drives innovation.” The company remains lean—just the three founders and a handful of helpers.
This intentional size balances the complexity of engine development with the need for agility. “You can’t throw a million engineers at an engine and expect it to work,” De Jong noted. “A small, focused team can make deliberate decisions and iterate faster, which is crucial given the narrow window of opportunity presented by AI’s rise.” Immens is currently targeting a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow, slated for release this month.
“When we started in April, we thought the demo would be ready by year‑end,” Brussee recalled. “We’re already twice as fast as anticipated, making timeline predictions difficult.” The business model is still evolving.
While Immens admires Epic’s philosophy of succeeding when developers succeed, Brussee admits it’s too early to commit to a specific revenue approach. Ultimately, the founders hope Immens will enable a new wave of daring, artistic games.
“We love games and want to see more risk‑taking and creative expression,” Brussee concluded. “If our technology can help push the industry forward, that would be amazing."