For many years, the game‑development landscape has been dominated by two heavyweight engines: Unity and Unreal. In 2025, roughly seventy percent of titles released on Steam were built with one of these platforms.
While the open‑source Godot engine has enjoyed a notable surge in popularity, and large publishers continue to rely on proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example—the market has largely been a duopoly. Enter Immens, a fledgling company founded by three industry veterans: Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient.
Their résumés read like a who’s‑who of game‑tech history, featuring stints 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 that the next generation of tools should be built with artificial intelligence at its core. 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‑augmented engine was more fantasy than reality," he said.
"Now, with AI‑assisted programming, we can start from a clean slate and assemble functional systems much faster than before, while still keeping developers in the driver’s seat." Valient, Immens’ chief technology officer, clarified that the AI they are integrating is not the kind that simply generates assets from prompts. Instead, it serves as an extensibility layer. "Our AI can analyse the entire codebase and reason about dependencies," he noted. "If a solo developer wants to add a custom particle system or a unique physics module, the AI can suggest where to hook it in, generate boilerplate code, and even validate the integration.
This turns the engine into a living framework that scales from hobbyists to small studios without forcing them into a monolithic workflow." The motivation behind Immens is rooted in the current economic pressures of game development. Brussee described the market as "rough" and warned that production costs are spiralling upward. "Games are becoming more expensive to make, and the risk to studios is growing," he said.
"We need new ways to work that lower costs, shrink team sizes, and shorten timelines, so creators aren’t forced to gamble their livelihoods on a single title." De Jong, the chief product officer, observed that the engine space has entered a phase of "standardisation and consolidation." While this has provided a reliable foundation, he argues that the industry now requires genuine innovation. "Continuing to iterate on the same monolithic engines won’t solve the challenges we face," he asserted. "We need a paradigm shift—an engine that adapts to the developer rather than the other way around." One of the biggest criticisms of existing engines is their rigidity.
Developers often have to conform to proprietary file formats and workflows, limiting creativity. De Jong believes AI can turn this on its head by making the engine highly modular.
"You should be able to swap components, append new ones, or rewrite parts of the toolchain to match your personal workflow," he explained. "Imagine a designer who prefers a specific shortcut layout or a visual scripting interface; the AI can help construct those tools on demand, tailoring the engine to the team’s exact needs." Valient also warned that AI, while powerful, can become unpredictable if left unchecked.
To mitigate this, Immens is designing the engine so that users retain full visibility and control over AI actions. "You always know what the AI is doing, why it made a particular change, and you can replay or revert those steps," he said.
"This auditability ensures repeatable results and prevents the black‑box scenario that scares many developers." The team envisions a future where routine tasks—like generating a set of characters with specific attributes—can be accomplished in minutes instead of weeks. "What used to require a small team days of work can now be prototyped over a coffee break," Valient remarked.
"The AI can produce a usable tool, you run it a handful of times, and then discard it. That flexibility dramatically reduces development overhead." Flexibility is baked into Immens’ architecture.
De Jong emphasized that the engine does not impose a single workflow. "Whether you want a heavily AI‑driven pipeline or a more traditional manual approach, the framework lets you decide," he said. "The key is that the AI must understand the context correctly, and we’re building safeguards to ensure it does." Interoperability is another cornerstone of the platform. By embracing open, text‑based standards, Immens aims to play nicely with existing tools such as Blender, Maya, and other generative pipelines.
"When files are human‑readable, any software can parse them," Brussee explained. "Our AI can ingest those assets, modify them, and output results that other programs can immediately consume. This open‑standard approach eliminates the siloed nature of many current engines, which often force developers into proprietary ecosystems." The conversation around AI in game development is not without controversy.
Some critics on social media hype up the notion of "click‑to‑game" engines that could produce AAA‑level experiences from a single text prompt, stoking fear of job loss and artistic dilution. Immens acknowledges these concerns but frames AI as a tool rather than a replacement. "AI will make everyone better, not replace them," Valient asserted.
"It’s a disruptive technology, but like any tool, its impact depends on how we wield it." Economic anxieties also linger, with many questioning whether the AI boom is a bubble. Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era, noting that while numerous startups vanished, the underlying internet technology endured and flourished.
"AI isn’t disappearing; it’s evolving. Some companies will fail, but the ones that deliver real value will survive.
Our focus is on building a solid engine that leverages AI to accelerate development, not on chasing hype," he said. Funding remains modest. Immens has secured its "first commitments" but has not disclosed exact figures, describing the amount as "reasonable." Brussee cautioned against over‑capitalisation, noting that excess money can breed complacency.
"Startups need to stay scrappy. Too much cash can make you lazy," he laughed. The company remains lean—just the three founders plus a handful of helpers. This intentional size allows rapid decision‑making and tight coordination, which is crucial for a complex undertaking like building a new engine.
De Jong explained the balancing act: "You can’t throw a million engineers at an engine and expect it to work instantly. You need a small, focused team to iterate, make hard choices, and refine the architecture. At the same time, you must have enough resources to hit the market window created by AI’s rise. It’s a delicate trade‑off we’re navigating." Immens is currently developing a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow.
The goal is to release this demo within the month, demonstrating how developers can manipulate game assets in real time using AI suggestions. "When we started in April, we projected a year‑long timeline," Brussee admitted. "We’re now moving twice as fast, which makes it hard to give precise dates, but the progress is encouraging." The business model is still taking shape. While Immens admires Epic Games’ revenue‑share philosophy—"we succeed when you succeed"—the founders admit it’s too early to lock in a specific approach.
"We’re exploring options that align with our mission of empowering creators without imposing restrictive fees," Brussee said. Ultimately, the founders hope Immens will catalyse a wave of creative risk‑taking in the industry. "We love games as an art form and want to see more daring, innovative experiences," Brussee concluded. "If our technology can lower barriers and give developers the freedom to experiment, that would be amazing for the whole medium."