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 enjoyed a surge in popularity and some studios cling to proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example—the duopoly of Unity and Unreal still dominates the market. Enter Immens, a fledgling venture 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 the engine space is not a closed book and that there is ample room for a fresh approach that leverages today’s AI breakthroughs. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels “right” to build something that simply didn’t exist a few years ago. He believes AI‑assisted programming can restore the ability to start projects from a clean slate, offering “full functionality fast” under guided, controllable conditions. Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, is careful to distinguish their vision from the hype‑driven notion of “prompt‑to‑game” generation.
He stresses that the AI in Immens is not about conjuring assets with a single sentence, but about constructing an engine architecture that is inherently extensible. "AI can reason over massive codebases and data sets," he says. "If we design the engine with that capability in mind, even solo developers or tiny teams can plug in custom systems—like a bespoke particle engine—without being confined to a limited scripting layer." The motivation behind this AI‑powered engine stems from the current economic climate of game development, which Brussee describes as “rough.” Production costs are soaring, and studios of all sizes are feeling the pressure to deliver more with fewer resources. “We need new ways of working, more efficient pipelines, and tools that let smaller teams ship faster without risking everything,” he asserts.
De Jong, Immens’s chief product officer, points out that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated. While that consolidation has given developers a stable foundation, it also creates a monolithic environment where studios must bend to the engine’s file formats and workflows. He envisions a flexible system where developers can swap components, append new features, and craft personalized toolsets that match their unique pipelines. “Imagine building a UI that mirrors your exact workflow, with shortcuts and interfaces tuned to your team’s habits—that’s the freedom we want to enable," he explains.
Valient acknowledges AI’s double‑edged nature. The technology is “really powerful,” yet it can “go off the rails quickly if you don’t watch it.” Immens therefore embeds transparency and control into the core experience. Users can trace the engine’s decisions, review its history, and ensure repeatable outcomes. This level of oversight allows developers to create throw‑away tools for specific tasks—like generating five characters with a particular trait in minutes—without the massive overhead that traditional pipelines demand.
Flexibility is baked into Immens’s design philosophy. The engine does not impose a single workflow; instead, it offers a modular architecture that lets creators decide how much AI to incorporate and where. De Jong emphasizes that the framework must be robust enough to understand AI prompts accurately while still giving developers the freedom to override or extend functionality as needed. Interoperability is another cornerstone.
By adopting open, text‑based standards, Immens ensures that files can be read and manipulated by any compatible software—be it Blender, Maya, or future generative tools. “When everything speaks a common language, you can plug in your favorite applications and let the AI act on those assets directly,” Brussee notes. This openness contrasts sharply with many existing engines that act as closed ecosystems, hindering seamless integration.
The broader industry reaction to AI in game creation is mixed. Some commentators predict a future where “click‑to‑play” engines can conjure Grand‑Theft‑Auto‑scale experiences from a single prompt. Immens’s team, however, views AI as a powerful assistant rather than a replacement for human creativity.
Valient asserts that AI will make developers better, not obsolete, while De Jong stresses the responsibility to wield the technology ethically, just as with any other tool. Economic anxieties also swirl around the AI boom, with fears of a bubble and inflated valuations. Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era, noting that while many companies vanished, the underlying internet survived and flourished. “AI isn’t disappearing; it’s evolving.
Our goal is to build a solid engine that stands on its own merits, using AI to accelerate development and inspire bigger dreams,” he says. Funding remains modest. Immens has secured its “first commitments” but has not disclosed amounts, describing the capital raise as “reasonable.” Brussee warns against excess, noting that too much money can breed complacency and reduce the scrappy mindset essential for a startup. The team is intentionally lean—just the three founders plus a handful of helpers.
This small size allows rapid decision‑making and focused iteration. De Jong explains the balancing act: “You can’t throw a million engineers at an engine and expect it to work instantly. You need a tight, dedicated group to shape the architecture, but you also need enough resources to hit the market window created by AI’s rise.” 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, a timeline that Brussee says is already twice as fast as originally projected when the project launched in April. Regarding the business model, Immens admires Epic’s “we succeed when you succeed” licensing philosophy but admits it’s too early to lock in specifics.
Ultimately, the founders hope their engine will empower creators to push artistic boundaries, take risks, and deliver innovative experiences. “We love games and the complex artistic expressions they enable,” Brussee concludes. “If Immens can help more developers bring daring, creative projects to life, that would be amazing."