From Epic and Guerrilla to a New Game Engine Alternative
Arjan Brussee, best known as a co-founder of Guerrilla Games and former technical director at Epic Games, is now turning his attention to building a new game engine alternative called The Immense Engine. Rather than being just another rendering or scripting framework, the project is explicitly positioned as a fully European-hosted platform that complies with regional technology rules and guidelines. While Unity was originally conceived in Denmark, the commercial game engine landscape has long been dominated by US-based ecosystems, particularly Unreal Engine and Unity itself. Brussee’s move signals that seasoned leadership from inside those incumbents sees room for a fresh Unreal Engine competitor, especially one architected around AI from day one. Though release timelines, licensing details, and supported platforms remain undisclosed, the announcement alone positions The Immense Engine as a notable new entrant in the increasingly crowded market for high-end game engine tools.
AI Game Development at the Core of The Immense Engine
What sets The Immense Engine apart is its ambition to deliver “full” generative AI integration instead of treating AI as a bolt-on feature. Brussee has argued that the rise of AI should fundamentally change how crucial software like game engines are developed and used, shifting away from traditional menu-driven workflows toward more automated, agent-based pipelines. In a recent podcast appearance, he suggested that with a well-designed framework of AI agents, a small team could match the productivity of ten or fifteen people. For AI game development, that implies tools that can generate 3D worlds, assets, or behaviors with significantly fewer manual steps. Both Unreal and Unity are already experimenting with generative AI, but Brussee’s framing suggests The Immense Engine will try to bake AI deeply into its architecture, making intelligent automation a default expectation rather than an optional add-on within existing game engine tools.
Positioning as a European Alternative in a US-Led Ecosystem
Beyond technology, The Immense Engine is being framed as a strategically independent Unreal Engine competitor. Brussee emphasizes that it will be built by European teams and fully hosted within local infrastructure, aligning with regional regulations and ambitions to cultivate a more self-reliant tech ecosystem. This positioning taps into wider concerns about dependence on large US platforms for critical software, especially when game engines increasingly underpin not just entertainment, but simulation, training, and other industrial applications. Engines like Unreal are already deeply embedded in these sectors, yet Brussee’s rhetoric suggests a desire to offer a more locally governed option with comparable capabilities. If The Immense Engine can match the maturity of established tools while adhering closely to regional governance and data standards, it could become a compelling game engine alternative for studios and institutions wary of relying solely on foreign-controlled platforms.
Beyond Games: Simulation, Defence, and New Markets for Engine Tools
Brussee has highlighted that creating usable 3D worlds is increasingly important for non-gaming purposes such as simulation and training, areas where game engine tools have already gained a strong foothold. He has also flagged potential applications of The Immense Engine in the defence industry, where realistic virtual environments and procedural content generation can significantly reduce the cost and time required to build training scenarios. While details are sparse, full generative AI integration could allow enterprises to quickly prototype complex virtual worlds, non-player characters, or mission logic using AI agents instead of large content teams. That ambition aligns The Immense Engine with a broader trend: game engines evolving into general-purpose 3D operating systems for industries well beyond entertainment. If executed effectively, this AI-heavy design could position the engine as a versatile platform for both cutting-edge games and high-stakes enterprise simulations.
Can an AI-Heavy Challenger Disrupt Unreal and Unity?
The Immense Engine enters a market where Unreal and Unity have entrenched ecosystems, extensive documentation, and massive user communities. Both incumbents are already exploring generative AI, from code assistants to content creation tools, which raises the bar for any new Unreal Engine competitor. Brussee’s promise of deeply integrated AI agents and streamlined, less menu-driven workflows is therefore both the core differentiator and the biggest execution risk. Developers will expect robust performance, cross-platform support, and reliable pipelines, not just AI-driven novelty. Nonetheless, the project illustrates a growing appetite for engines that treat AI as a foundational layer in game and simulation development. Even without public release details, The Immense Engine has already sparked discussion about what the next generation of game engine tools should look like—and whether regional, AI-first alternatives can loosen the grip of today’s dominant platforms.