For many years, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces shaping the video‑game development landscape, together accounting for roughly 70% of all titles released on Steam in 2025. While the open‑source Godot engine has enjoyed noticeable growth, most large studios still lean toward proprietary solutions—Capcom’s in‑house RE Engine being a prime example—leaving Unity and Unreal with an almost unchallenged grip on the market.
Against this backdrop, three seasoned industry veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—have launched Immersive (Immens), a startup intent on delivering a fresh alternative. Their résumés read like a who’s‑who of game development: experience at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, Apple, and other heavyweight studios.
The trio believes that the current engine ecosystem, while solid, still harbors significant inefficiencies that can be addressed with modern AI techniques. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a new engine, noting, “A couple of years ago this simply wasn’t possible. With AI‑assisted programming we can start building from scratch again, under tight guidance, and bring full‑featured tools to market much faster.” Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, clarified that the company’s use of AI differs from the hype‑driven “prompt‑to‑asset” narrative that dominates many discussions today.
“Our AI isn’t about conjuring content from a single sentence,” he said. “It’s about constructing an engine architecture that is inherently extensible. AI excels at reasoning over large codebases and data sets.
By designing the engine with that capability in mind, even solo developers or small teams can plug in custom systems—like a bespoke particle system—without being confined to a limited scripting layer.” The motivation behind Immens is rooted in the harsh economic reality of contemporary game development. Brussee described the market as “rough,” emphasizing that production costs continue to climb, making it increasingly difficult for studios to achieve profitability. “We need new ways of working that cut costs, shrink team sizes, and accelerate timelines,” he argued.
“If we can lower the financial barrier, creators won’t have to risk their livelihoods on a single title.” De Jong, the chief product officer, highlighted a trend toward “standardisation and consolidation” in the engine space. While this has provided a reliable foundation, he warned that the industry now faces a suite of challenges that cannot be solved by merely iterating on existing tools. “We need innovation, not more of the same,” he asserted. “The monolithic nature of current engines forces developers to adapt to rigid file formats and workflows.
With AI, we can flip that script and let the engine adapt to the developer’s needs.” Flexibility, according to De Jong, is paramount. He envisions a system where users can swap components, append new modules, and craft bespoke tools tailored to their personal workflows. “Imagine being able to design an interface that mirrors your own mental model—exact shortcuts, specific panels, the perfect layout for your team’s pipeline. That level of customization is what we’re aiming for.” Valient also cautioned that AI, while powerful, can behave unpredictably if left unchecked.
Immens therefore places a strong emphasis on transparency and control. “When you use our engine, you’ll always see what the AI is doing, why it made a particular change, and you can reproduce those steps later,” he explained. “This auditability ensures that creative processes remain reliable and repeatable.” One of the most compelling promises of the platform is the ability to dramatically shorten repetitive tasks. Valient gave an example: creating five characters with a specific trait used to require weeks of planning and manual labor.
With AI‑augmented tools, a developer could sketch the concept over breakfast, generate the assets, and iterate in minutes, then discard the temporary workflow once the job is done. Such rapid prototyping, he argued, could democratize high‑quality production and free resources for more ambitious design work. Immens’s architecture is deliberately agnostic.
De Jong stressed that the engine does not impose a single workflow or development paradigm. “You decide how much AI you want to incorporate and where,” he said. “Our framework is built to be modular, so you can blend traditional coding with AI assistance as you see fit.” Interoperability is another cornerstone of the project. Brussee pointed out that open, text‑based file formats enable any tool—be it Blender, Maya, or a custom generative system—to read and write data seamlessly.
“When everything speaks a common language, the engine can act as a hub rather than a silo,” he noted. “That openness is still rare in many proprietary engines, which often lock you into their own ecosystems.” The broader conversation around AI in games is polarized. Some commentators on platforms like LinkedIn predict a future where entire open‑world experiences can be spawned with a single prompt, sparking fears of “click‑to‑play” shortcuts that could diminish craftsmanship.
Immens’s team acknowledges the hype but frames AI as a tool, not a replacement. Valient said, “AI will make every developer better, not eliminate the need for human creativity.” De Jong added, “Any technology can be misused; it’s our responsibility to guide it toward productive, ethical applications.” Economic concerns also loom large. Critics warn that AI‑focused startups may be riding a speculative bubble, with inflated valuations detached from sustainable revenue.
Valient responded that while bubbles burst, the underlying technology persists—much like the internet after the dot‑com crash. “We’re focused on building a solid engine first; AI simply accelerates our development and expands what’s possible.” Funding remains modest.
Immens has secured its “first commitments” but has not disclosed exact figures, describing the target amount as “reasonable.” Brussee warned against over‑capitalization, noting that excess cash can breed complacency. “Startups need to stay scrappy; too much money can make you lazy.” The company remains lean, consisting of the three founders and a handful of helpers. This small‑team approach is intentional, allowing rapid decision‑making while avoiding the pitfalls of a massive, unwieldy organization.
De Jong explained the delicate balance: “Building an engine is complex, but you don’t need a million engineers. You need a focused group that can iterate quickly and seize the current window of opportunity created by AI’s rise.” Immens is currently targeting a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a complete editing workflow powered by generative AI, slated for release later this month. Brussee revealed that the team originally projected a year‑long timeline, yet they are already moving at double that speed.
“Predicting exact dates is hard when you’re breaking new ground,” he admitted. Regarding the eventual business model, Brussee hinted at an alignment with Epic’s “we succeed when you succeed” philosophy, but emphasized that it’s still too early to make definitive statements. The ultimate goal, he concluded, is to empower creators to push the medium forward.
“We love games and the artistic expression they enable. We hope our technology fuels more risk‑taking, more creativity, and ultimately, more innovative experiences for players worldwide. That would be amazing."