For many years, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces in game development, responsible for roughly 70% of the titles released on Steam in 2025. While open‑source alternatives like Godot have begun to gain traction, most large studios still lean on proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example—leaving Unity and Unreal with a near‑monopoly on the market. Against this backdrop, three industry veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—have launched Immersive (Immens), a new AI‑enhanced game engine that they believe can carve out a meaningful niche and push the medium forward.
The founders’ résumés read like a who’s‑who of modern game development. Brussee helped build the original Quake engine and later co‑founded Guerrilla Games, De Jong was a senior engineer at Epic Games and contributed to the Unreal Engine’s evolution, and Valient brings experience from Apple, Boss Key, and other high‑tech firms. Together they argue that the status quo is ripe for disruption.
In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that “the opportunity now is to build an engine that simply didn’t exist a couple of years ago.” He believes that AI‑assisted programming can restore a sense of creative freedom that has been eroded by ever‑more complex toolchains. Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, stresses that the AI they are integrating is not the flashy “prompt‑to‑asset” kind that dominates headlines. Instead, it is woven into the engine’s architecture to make the codebase highly extensible.
“AI can reason about massive amounts of data and source code,” he said. “If we design the engine with that in mind, even a solo developer can add a custom particle system, a new rendering path, or any bespoke feature without being limited to a tiny scripting layer.” This philosophy aims to let developers use AI as a productivity multiplier rather than a replacement for human ingenuity. The motivation behind Immens is also economic.
Brussee described the current market as “rough,” noting that development budgets keep inflating while the risk of failure grows. “Games are getting more expensive, and it’s harder to succeed,” he warned.
“We need new ways of working that lower costs, shrink team sizes, and accelerate timelines so studios aren’t gambling their entire livelihood on a single title.” De Jong echoed this sentiment, observing that the engine landscape has become overly standardized and consolidated. While standardization provides a solid foundation, he argues that the industry now needs genuine innovation, not just incremental improvements. One of the pain points De Jong highlights is the monolithic nature of existing engines. Developers often must conform to proprietary file formats and rigid workflows, which can stifle creativity.
With AI, Immens intends to flip this model: the engine should adapt to the developer, not the other way around. “Flexibility is key,” he said. “You should be able to swap components, append new tools, and tailor the interface to your exact workflow.
If I need a shortcut for a specific animation pipeline, I can build it directly into the engine.” This level of customization is designed to empower teams of any size to craft tools that match their unique artistic and technical needs. Valient is realistic about AI’s limits. He acknowledges that while the technology is powerful, it can also behave unpredictably if left unchecked.
To mitigate this, Immens will give users full visibility into the AI’s actions, including a complete history of changes, ensuring repeatability and accountability. He illustrated the potential impact with a simple example: generating five distinct characters with specific traits could previously take weeks of manual work, but with AI‑assisted tools, a developer could prototype the assets while sipping coffee, then discard the temporary workflow after use. This rapid iteration model could dramatically reduce development costs. Immens’s design philosophy rejects a one‑size‑fits‑all workflow.
De Jong emphasizes that the engine will not force a particular pipeline; instead, it will provide a modular architecture that lets users decide how much AI to incorporate and where. The team also plans to adopt open standards for asset interchange, enabling seamless integration with tools like Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI system. “When files are text‑based, any program can read them,” Brussee noted. “Open standards let the AI parse and manipulate those files, creating smarter interfaces across the entire toolchain.” This openness contrasts with many proprietary engines that act as closed ecosystems, hindering interoperability.
The broader AI debate in game development is polarized. Some pundits on LinkedIn hype “click‑to‑game” engines that could produce Grand Theft Auto‑scale experiences from a single prompt, fueling fear that creativity will be outsourced to algorithms. Immens’s founders see AI as a tool, not a replacement. Valient believes AI will make developers better, not obsolete, and acknowledges the current negative connotations stem from the technology’s disruptive speed.
De Jong adds that, like any powerful tool, AI must be used responsibly; the industry has a duty to guide its adoption ethically. Economic concerns also swirl around AI, with many warning of a speculative bubble. Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era, noting that while many startups vanished, the underlying internet survived and flourished.
“AI isn’t going away,” he said. “Our goal is to build a solid engine that leverages AI to accelerate development, not to chase hype.” The founders remain cautious about funding: Immens has secured initial commitments but has not disclosed amounts, preferring a “reasonable” capital base to avoid the complacency that can accompany excess cash.
Immens remains a lean operation—just the three founders and a handful of helpers—by design. De Jong explains that building an engine is a complex undertaking that cannot be rushed by simply adding more personnel. A small, focused team can make deliberate decisions and iterate quickly, which is crucial given the narrow window of opportunity presented by the current AI wave. Brussee notes that the team has already moved twice as fast as their original timeline, aiming to showcase a proof‑of‑concept demo of AI‑driven editing later this month.
Business model discussions are still in their infancy. While Immens admires Epic Games’ “we succeed when you succeed” revenue sharing, they have not committed to a specific approach yet. Ultimately, the founders hope their engine will empower creators to push artistic boundaries, take risks, and deliver innovative experiences that rejuvenate the industry.
As Brussee put it, “We love games, we love the complex expression of the art form, and we want to see more creativity and risk‑taking. If Immens can help make that happen, that would be amazing.”