For years, Unity and Unreal have ruled the game‑development landscape, powering roughly 70% of the titles that appeared on Steam in 2025. While Godot has carved out a niche and some studios cling to proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example—the market has largely settled into a duopoly. Yet three industry veterans, Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient, see an opening for a fresh contender. Their startup, Immens, is set to launch an AI‑enhanced engine that they believe can break the entrenched cycle of ever‑rising costs and shrinking margins for small teams.
The trio’s résumés read like a roll‑call of the biggest names in gaming technology. Brussee helped build the original Grand Theft Auto engine, De Jong contributed to the acclaimed Horizon titles, and Valient has held senior roles at Epic Games, Guerrilla, and even Apple. Their combined experience gives them a unique perspective on why the current generation of engines, despite their power, may no longer be the optimal tool for the next wave of creators.
In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee argued that “the opportunity now is to build an engine that simply didn’t exist a few years ago.” He points to the rapid advances in AI‑assisted programming as a catalyst for this shift. “With AI‑supported code generation, you can start from a clean slate again,” he explains. “Guided by strong architectural principles, you can deliver full‑featured functionality far faster than before.” Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, clarifies that the AI component is not about “prompt‑to‑content” gimmicks.
Instead, the AI is woven into the engine’s core to make it highly extensible. “The AI can reason about massive codebases and data sets,” he says. “If we design the engine with that capability in mind, even a solo developer can plug in a custom particle system, a bespoke physics module, or any other feature without being limited to a narrow scripting layer.” This philosophy aims to give developers the freedom to augment the engine as quickly as they can imagine, turning AI into a productivity amplifier rather than a black‑box creator.
The motivation behind Immens is rooted in the current economic climate of game development. Brussee describes the environment as “rough” and notes that production budgets are ballooning, making it increasingly difficult for studios to survive.
“We need new ways of working that lower cost, shrink team size, and accelerate timelines,” he says. “If we can achieve that, we protect livelihoods and give creators the breathing room to take artistic risks.” De Jong, the chief product officer, observes that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated.
While this has provided a solid technical foundation, he argues that the industry now needs genuine innovation. “Continuing to do things exactly as we have for the past decade isn’t enough,” he asserts. “We need an engine that adapts to the developer, not the other way around.” One of the pain points he highlights is the monolithic nature of existing engines.
Developers are forced to conform to proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines. Immens, by contrast, aims to be a modular ecosystem where users can swap components, append new tools, and tailor interfaces to their personal workflows. “Imagine being able to craft a toolset that mirrors your own mental model—exact shortcuts, specific UI layouts, everything optimized for your project,” De Jong says.
“That level of flexibility is what we’re building.” Valient also warns that AI, while powerful, can behave unpredictably if left unchecked. Immens therefore emphasizes transparency and control: users can trace every AI‑generated change, view its history, and ensure repeatability. This auditability is crucial for maintaining trust in a pipeline where a single automated step could otherwise introduce hidden bugs. The architecture of Immens deliberately avoids imposing a single workflow.
“It’s up to you how much AI you want to use and where,” De Jong notes. “Our framework is designed to let you decide the balance between manual control and AI assistance.” This openness extends to interoperability. By relying on open, text‑based standards, Immens can read and write files that other tools—Blender, Maya, or any generative asset pipeline—understand. “When everything speaks the same language, integration becomes trivial,” Brussee adds.
“That’s a huge advantage over engines that lock you into proprietary ecosystems.” The broader conversation about AI in games is polarized. Some pundits on LinkedIn hype “click‑to‑game” engines that could conjure GTA‑scale worlds from a single prompt. Immens’s founders acknowledge that such a future might be possible, but they stress that AI should be viewed as a tool, not a replacement for creativity.
“AI makes everyone better, but the art still comes from people,” Valient says. “The technology has a negative stigma now because it’s disrupting at an unprecedented scale, but responsible use can unlock amazing possibilities.” Economic anxieties also swirl around the AI boom, with many fearing a bubble. Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era: the internet didn’t disappear, only the unsustainable business models did. “We’re focused on building a genuinely good engine.
If AI helps us iterate faster and dream bigger, that’s a win regardless of market hype,” he explains. “Whether we’re in a bubble is unknown, but great products survive.” Funding for Immens remains modest. The founders have secured initial commitments but have not disclosed amounts, describing them as “reasonable.” Brussee cautions against over‑capitalization, noting that excess cash can breed complacency. “Startups need to stay scrappy,” he laughs.
“Too much money can make you lazy.” The team itself is intentionally lean: the three founders plus a handful of helpers. De Jong emphasizes that building an engine is a complex endeavor that cannot be rushed by sheer headcount. “You need a small, focused group to make the right architectural decisions,” he says. “At the same time, you must seize the narrow window of opportunity presented by AI’s rise.” Immens is currently racing toward a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow.
The goal is to release the demo within the month, a timeline that already outpaces their original end‑of‑year estimate by a factor of two. “We’re moving faster than we thought possible,” Brussee remarks, underscoring the speed gains they aim to deliver to developers. As for the business model, Immens is still exploring options.
While they admire Epic Games’ “we succeed when you succeed” revenue share, they admit it’s too early to commit to a specific approach. Ultimately, the founders hope their engine will empower creators to push the medium forward, fostering more risk‑taking, artistic expression, and innovation. “We love games and want to see more daring, creative projects,” Brussee concludes. “If our technology can help make that happen, that would be amazing."