For more than a decade, Unity and Unreal have been the de‑facto platforms for video‑game creation, together accounting for roughly 70 % of the titles that landed on Steam in 2025. While open‑source alternatives such as Godot have begun to attract attention, the market remains heavily dominated by proprietary solutions, with major publishers still leaning on in‑house engines—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example. In this landscape, three seasoned developers—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—have decided that there is still space for a fresh approach.
Their new venture, Immens, aims to build an AI‑enhanced game engine that challenges the status quo and offers a more flexible, affordable pathway for smaller studios. The founders’ résumés read like a roll call of industry heavyweights. Brussee cut his teeth at Epic Games, the creators of Unreal, before moving on to Guerrilla Games and later co‑founding the successful studio Boss Key. De Jong spent years at Apple, working on graphics pipelines and tooling, while Valient’s background spans both technical leadership at major studios and deep work on AI research.
Together they see a gap in the current engine ecosystem: a tool that not only provides the raw power of today’s giants but also leverages artificial intelligence to streamline development and empower individual creators. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained why now is the right moment to launch a new engine. "A few years ago the idea of an AI‑augmented engine simply wasn’t feasible," he said.
"Today, with AI‑supported programming, we can start from a clean slate and build something that delivers full functionality much faster, while still giving developers granular control over the process." Valient, Immens’ chief technology officer, clarified that the AI component is not about generating assets through prompts, as popular media sometimes suggests. Instead, the engine’s AI is designed to make the underlying codebase highly extensible. "AI excels at reasoning over large codebases and data sets," he noted.
"If we architect the engine with that capability in mind, even a solo developer can extend it beyond simple scripting. Imagine wanting a custom particle system: the AI can help you integrate it directly into the engine, reducing the time and expertise normally required." The motivation behind Immens is also rooted in the harsh economic realities facing game creators. Brussee described the current market as "rough" and warned that development costs are spiralling upward.
"Games are getting more expensive, and studios are under pressure to deliver bigger experiences with smaller budgets," he said. "We need new workflows that cut costs, shrink team sizes, and accelerate timelines, otherwise developers risk their livelihoods." De Jong echoed this sentiment, observing that the engine space has become overly standardized and consolidated. While this has produced stable foundations, it also stifles innovation. "The industry is at a crossroads," he argued.
"Continuing to rely on the same monolithic engines won’t solve the emerging challenges. We need a paradigm shift—flexibility, modularity, and AI‑driven extensibility." One of the biggest frustrations with existing engines is their monolithic nature.
Developers must conform to proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines, limiting creativity. With AI, Immers aims to flip that model: the engine should adapt to the developer, not the other way around. De Jong illustrated this with a personal example, saying he could craft bespoke tools that match his workflow down to the exact shortcuts, UI layout, and feature set his team requires. This level of customization, he believes, is essential for small teams that cannot afford large, generic toolchains.
Valient also warned that AI, while powerful, can behave unpredictably if left unchecked. Immens therefore places a strong emphasis on transparency and control. "When you use the engine, you always know what it’s doing and why," he said.
"Every action is logged, reproducible, and can be overridden. This gives developers confidence that the AI is a partner, not a black box." The practical benefits of such an approach are substantial.
Tasks that previously demanded weeks of manual work—like generating a set of five characters with specific traits—could be accomplished in a coffee break using AI‑assisted tools. These tools can be created, applied a handful of times, and then discarded, dramatically reducing development overhead. Immens is deliberately built to avoid imposing a single workflow. De Jong emphasized that the architecture is modular, allowing users to decide how much AI they want to incorporate and where.
The engine also embraces open standards, ensuring seamless interoperability with popular software such as Blender, Maya, and other generative tools. "When files are text‑based, any program can read them," Brussee explained. "Our AI can parse those files and act on them, creating a fluid exchange between different tools. This openness is a major differentiator from many proprietary engines that isolate themselves behind closed formats." The conversation around AI in game development is often polarized.
Some commentators on LinkedIn sensationalize the technology, claiming that a simple prompt could spawn a Grand Theft Auto‑level experience. Immens’ founders adopt a more measured stance.
While they acknowledge the eventual possibility of "click‑to‑game" solutions, they view AI primarily as an accelerator for human creativity. "AI makes everyone better," Valient said. "It’s a tool that, if used responsibly, can lift the entire industry." Economic concerns also loom large. Critics argue that AI‑focused startups may be part of a speculative bubble.
Valient counters that, like the dot‑com era, the underlying technology is unlikely to disappear; instead, weaker players will fall while robust products survive. "We’re focused on building a solid engine first. AI simply helps us iterate faster and think bigger," he remarked. Funding for Immens remains modest.
The company has secured its "first commitments" but has not disclosed exact figures, describing the amount as "reasonable." Brussee cautioned against over‑capitalization, noting that excess cash can breed complacency. "Startups need to stay scrappy," he laughed. "Too much money can make you lazy." The team itself is intentionally lean—just the three founders plus a handful of helpers.
De Jong explained that engine development is a complex, long‑term effort that does not benefit from massive headcounts. "You need a small, focused group to make critical decisions and iterate quickly," he said. "At the same time, you must time your resources to capture the window of opportunity presented by AI’s rise. It’s a delicate balance." Immens is currently racing toward a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow.
The goal is to release this demo within the month, a timeline that has already outpaced the founders' original expectations. "When we started in April, we thought we’d be ready by year‑end," Brussee recalled.
"We’re now roughly twice as fast as we projected." As for the business model, Immens remains in exploratory mode. While they admire Epic Games’ philosophy of shared success—"we succeed when you succeed"—they admit it is too early to commit to a specific pricing structure.
The primary aim, for now, is to prove the technology and attract partners who share their vision of a more open, AI‑enhanced development ecosystem. In closing, Brussee expressed a hopeful outlook for the future of games. "We love games and the artistic expression they enable.
We want to see more risk‑taking, more creativity, and more innovation built on tools like ours. If we can help push the industry forward, that would be amazing."