After a distinguished 12-year tenure as the principal advocate for Unreal Engine at Epic Games, Sjoerd De Jong has embarked on an ambitious new endeavor: the creation of his own game engine. This bold move, announced shortly after his departure from Epic last month, sees De Jong teaming up with former Epic technical director Arjan Brussee to develop what they hope will be a fresh alternative in the video game development landscape.

Sjoerd De Jong Launches Immens Engine to Challenge Industry Giants

In June, Sjoerd De Jong, a prominent figure known for his contributions as an Unreal Engine modder and map creator, publicly announced his exit from Epic Games. His departure message hinted at a "pivotal point" within the gaming industry, expressing his intent to "adapt and excel" in meeting the evolving demands of video game creation.

Now, the specifics of De Jong's future plans have come to light. In an exclusive interview with "This Week in Videogames," De Jong unveiled his next major project: Immens Engine. This new venture is being built in collaboration with a small, dedicated team, including seasoned technical director Arjan Brussee, who also boasts a background at Epic Games.

De Jong's vision for Immens Engine is to offer a viable alternative to the prevailing influence of industry giants like Unreal and Unity. He contends that the widespread adoption and entrenched positions of these engines have inadvertently led to a "stagnation" in game development innovation. He pointed to the recent emergence of challengers like Godot as evidence of a growing need for diverse and modern engine solutions.

"Unreal and Unity continue to expand, accumulating increasing complexity and legacy features over time," De Jong observed. This accumulation, he believes, prompts the question of whether a "clean, modern engine built from the ground up" could foster renewed innovation.

Instead of merely adding functionalities to an already extensive toolset, De Jong aims for Immens to empower developers to craft more specialized and tailored development environments. Crucially, Immens Engine is being designed from its inception to seamlessly integrate with the array of "external tools, services, and libraries" that contemporary developers rely upon.

A significant aspect of Immens's design philosophy is its compatibility with agentic AI—a topic De Jong acknowledges as currently "hot." While Epic Games has expressed its commitment to integrating large language models (LLMs), generative AI, and tools like Claude and Codex into the future of Unreal Engine 6, De Jong remains skeptical. He questions whether existing engines and development tools, primarily designed for human interaction, can truly serve the unique requirements of agentic AI effectively.

Despite this focus, De Jong clarified that Immens is not an "AI engine" in the sense of automating game creation entirely. Rather, it is envisioned as a "proper game engine" that is inherently conducive to an AI-driven architectural approach. He emphasized that the role of human developers remains paramount: "We don't want [users to] press a button and generate a game, and then release it alongside the other five million games people have made that way," he stated, underscoring a commitment to fostering genuine creativity and craftsmanship.

Sjoerd De Jong's decision to leave a well-established position at Epic Games to develop Immens Engine signals a potential shift in the game development landscape. His critique of the perceived stagnation caused by dominant engines and his focus on creating a flexible, AI-friendly platform could inspire a new wave of innovation. By prioritizing bespoke toolsets and seamless integration with emerging technologies, Immens Engine might offer developers the freedom and efficiency needed to push creative boundaries. This venture highlights a growing desire within the industry for more diverse and adaptable development solutions, potentially fostering a more dynamic and less homogenized future for game creation.