For many years, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces shaping the video‑game development landscape. In fact, by 2025 they powered roughly seventy percent of all titles released on Steam. While open‑source alternatives such as Godot have begun to attract attention, the majority of large studios still cling to proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example.
The market, therefore, appears to be firmly in the hands of the two giants. Enter three industry veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—who have launched a new venture called Immens.
Their résumés read like a who’s‑who of modern game development: experience at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple. Together they argue that there is still room for a fresh engine, and more importantly, for a fundamentally different approach to building it. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a new platform. “A few years ago the idea of an AI‑enhanced engine didn’t exist,” he said.
“Now, with AI‑assisted programming, we can start from a clean slate and get full‑featured functionality up and running much faster than before.” Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, clarifies that the AI they are using is not the kind that simply generates assets from prompts. “Our AI is baked into the architecture of the engine itself,” he noted.
“It can reason about large codebases and data sets, which means smaller teams—or even solo developers—can extend the engine without being limited to a few scripting hooks. If a developer wants a custom particle system or a bespoke physics module, they can add it directly, and the AI helps keep the integration smooth and efficient.” The motivation behind Immens is rooted in the current economic climate of game development.
Brussee describes the environment as “rough,” emphasizing that production costs are spiralling upward and the risk of failure is growing. “We need new ways of working that lower expenses and allow smaller teams to ship high‑quality experiences quickly,” he argued.
The goal is to break the cycle where larger budgets and longer timelines become the norm, thereby protecting studios and the livelihoods of their creators. De Jong, the company’s chief product officer, points out that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated.
While this has provided a stable foundation, it also stifles innovation. “The industry is facing a slew of challenges, and simply repeating the old formula isn’t enough,” he said. “We need genuine innovation, not just another iteration of the same monolithic tools.” One of the pain points with existing engines is their monolithic nature. Developers often have to adapt to proprietary file formats and rigid workflows.
De Jong envisions an engine that bends to the developer’s will rather than forcing developers to bend to it. “Flexibility is key,” he explained.
“You should be able to swap components, append new features, and craft custom tools that match your personal workflow—down to the exact shortcuts, UI layout, and feature set you need for a particular project.” Valient acknowledges that AI, while powerful, can be unpredictable if left unchecked. To mitigate this, Immens is being built with transparency and control at its core. “When you use the engine, you always know what it’s doing and why,” he said. “Every action is logged, repeatable, and can be audited.
This gives developers confidence that the AI is assisting rather than taking over.” The team also highlights how AI can accelerate repetitive creative tasks. For example, generating five characters with a specific trait used to require weeks of manual work. With AI‑driven tools, a developer could prototype those characters over a coffee break, reuse the tool as needed, and discard it when the job is done—dramatically cutting costs.
Immens’s architecture deliberately avoids imposing a single workflow. De Jong stresses that users can decide how much AI to incorporate and where to apply it.
“The framework is modular; you can opt‑in to AI assistance for certain pipelines while keeping others fully manual,” he said. “The challenge is ensuring the AI understands the context correctly, which is why we’re designing it to work with open standards.” Open standards are another cornerstone of Immens’s strategy. By relying on text‑based, human‑readable file formats, the engine can interoperate seamlessly with popular tools such as Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI pipeline. “If the files are plain text, any system can read and manipulate them,” Brussee noted.
“That means you can plug in third‑party software without fighting against proprietary lock‑ins. It’s a big step toward a more collaborative ecosystem.” The broader conversation about AI in game development is often charged with hype and fear. Some commentators on LinkedIn claim that soon a single prompt could spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑scale experience.
Immens’s founders temper such expectations. While they acknowledge that “click‑to‑game” engines might one day exist, they view AI primarily as a tool that augments human creativity rather than replaces it. “AI makes everyone better,” Valient said. “It has a negative stigma now because it’s disrupting the status quo at an unprecedented scale.” De Jong adds a note of responsibility: “Any technology can be misused.
It’s up to us as an industry to apply AI responsibly and ensure it serves creators rather than undermines them.” Economic anxieties also swirl around AI, with many fearing a speculative bubble. Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era: “The internet didn’t disappear after the bubble burst; many companies fell, but the underlying technology endured.
We’re building a solid engine first; AI simply accelerates our development and expands our imagination.” He admits that no one can predict whether a bubble will burst, but stresses that focusing on a quality product is the safest path. Funding for Immens remains modest. The founders have secured “first commitments” but have not disclosed exact figures, describing the amount as “reasonable.” Brussee warns against over‑funding, noting that excess capital can breed complacency. “Startups need to stay scrappy,” he laughed.
The company remains lean—just the three founders plus a handful of helpers. This intentional size allows rapid decision‑making and maintains focus on core engineering challenges.
De Jong explains the trade‑off: “You can’t throw a million engineers at an engine and expect miracles. You need a small, dedicated team to make thoughtful choices, especially during the narrow window of opportunity the AI wave presents.” Immens is currently aiming to deliver a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow.
The team originally projected a year‑long timeline, but they are already moving twice as fast, aiming to release the demo within the month. Regarding the business model, Brussee says they admire Epic’s “we succeed when you succeed” philosophy but are still early in defining their own approach. The ultimate ambition, he concludes, is to empower creators to push the medium forward. “We love games as an art form,” he said.
“We want to see more risk‑taking, more creativity, and more innovation built on technology like ours. If we can make that happen, it would be amazing."