Unity and Unreal have long held sway over the game‑development landscape, accounting for roughly 70% of Steam releases projected for 2025. While Godot has made notable strides in recent years and some studios continue to rely on proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example—the market has largely been monopolised by the two giants. Enter Immersive, a venture founded by three seasoned veterans: Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient.
Their résumés read like a who’s‑who of the industry, 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 current tools could be dramatically improved.
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 building a modern engine from the ground up didn’t make sense," he said. "Now, with AI‑assisted programming, we can start from scratch again and still deliver a fully‑featured product quickly." Valient, Immersive’s chief technology officer, clarified that their use of artificial intelligence is not the typical "prompt‑to‑asset" hype that circulates online. "Our AI isn’t about generating content on demand," he noted.
"It’s about constructing an engine architecture that is inherently extensible. AI excels at reasoning over large codebases and data sets.
By designing the core with that capability in mind, even a solo developer can plug in a custom particle system, a bespoke animation pipeline, or any other feature without being confined to a limited scripting layer." The motivation behind this AI‑powered engine stems from the current economic pressures on developers. Brussee described the environment as "rough" and warned that game creation is becoming increasingly expensive. "We need to break the cycle of ever‑rising budgets and larger teams," he argued.
"If we can find more efficient ways to work, we can shrink development cycles, lower risk, and keep studios afloat." De Jong, Immersive’s chief product officer, observed that the engine market has entered a phase of "standardisation and consolidation." While that has produced a stable foundation, he believes the industry now demands genuine innovation. "Continuing to do exactly what we’ve always done won’t solve the challenges we face," he said. "We need a different approach that embraces flexibility and adaptability." One of the pain points De Jong highlighted is the "monolithic" nature of existing engines. Developers often have to conform to proprietary file formats and rigid workflows.
With AI, Immersive aims to flip that script, giving users an engine that molds itself to their needs. "You should be able to swap modules, append new tools, and reshape the interface to match your personal workflow," he explained. "Imagine a designer who can build a custom UI with shortcuts tailored to their team’s habits—something that traditional engines make difficult." Valient also warned that AI, while powerful, can quickly go off‑track if left unchecked.
To mitigate this, Immersive is building transparency into the system. "When you use our engine, you always know what the AI is doing, why it made a particular change, and you can reproduce the result," he said. "This auditability is crucial for creative pipelines where you might need to generate five characters with a specific trait in minutes rather than weeks." Flexibility is baked into Immersive’s design philosophy. De Jong emphasized that the framework does not impose a single workflow or a mandatory level of AI integration.
"You decide how much AI you want and where you want it," he noted. "Our architecture simply ensures that the AI understands the context correctly, so you can trust its suggestions." Interoperability is another cornerstone. By adhering to open, text‑based standards, Immersive hopes to make the engine play nicely with tools like Blender, Maya, or any generative‑art software. "When files are human‑readable, any program can parse them," Brussee said.
"That means the AI can read, modify, and exchange assets seamlessly, breaking the isolation that many proprietary engines enforce." The broader community remains divided on AI’s role in game development. Some commentators on LinkedIn hype "click‑to‑game" scenarios where a prompt could spawn a GTA‑level experience. Immersive’s team acknowledges that such extremes might one day be possible, but they view AI primarily as an empowering tool rather than a replacement for human creativity. "AI makes everyone better, not a substitute for talent," Valient asserted.
"It’s disruptive, which is why it carries negative connotations now, but responsible use can drive the industry forward." Economic anxieties also surface, with critics labeling the AI boom a bubble. Valient compared it to the dot‑com era, arguing that while many startups will fail, the underlying technology will persist. "The internet didn’t disappear after the bubble burst; the weak companies did," he said. "We’re focused on building a solid engine; AI simply accelerates our development and expands our imagination.
Whether it’s a bubble is unknown, but the tech isn’t going away." Funding remains modest. Immersive has secured its "first commitments" but has not disclosed amounts, describing the target as "reasonable." Brussee cautioned against over‑capitalisation, 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 tiny—just the three founders and a handful of helpers. They intentionally keep the operation lean to retain agility. De Jong explained the trade‑off: a massive team won’t magically solve the complexities of engine development; a focused group can iterate faster and make smarter decisions.
"We have a narrow window of opportunity as AI reshapes the industry," he said. "We need enough resources to hit that sweet spot without diluting our vision." Immersive is currently building a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow, slated for release later this month. The timeline has already outpaced their original expectations—what they thought would take until year‑end is now arriving in weeks. Brussee admitted that predicting exact milestones is challenging given the rapid pace.
Regarding the business model, Immersive admires Epic’s "we succeed when you succeed" licensing approach but admits it’s too early to commit. The ultimate goal, according to Brussee, is to enable creators to push the boundaries of what games can be.
"We love games and the artistic expression they embody," he said. "We hope our technology fuels more creativity, risk‑taking, and innovation across the industry. That would be amazing."