Sjoerd De Jong Launches New Game Engine to Challenge Industry Giants
In an exciting shift within the gaming landscape, Sjoerd De Jong, who previously spent over a decade as the “lead evangelist” for Unreal Engine at Epic Games, has announced his departure to pursue a new venture. Last month, De Jong hinted at a pivotal moment in the gaming industry and shared his intention to adapt and innovate in the realm of game development.
Now, we have more details on what’s next for him. In a recent chat with This Week in Videogames, De Jong revealed that he is developing his very own game engine, aptly named the Immens Engine. Teaming up with former Epic technical director Arjan Brussee and a small group of co-founders, De Jong aims to create a fresh alternative to the widely used Unreal and Unity engines.
De Jong expressed concerns over the increasing dominance of Unreal and Unity, suggesting that their growing complexity has contributed to a stagnation in game development. He noted that while newer engines like Godot are emerging, there’s still a need for a modern solution that sheds unnecessary baggage. “We aim to build a clean, modern engine from the ground up,” he mentioned.
Unlike the existing tools that have become overloaded with features, the Immens Engine is designed to empower developers by allowing them to create a tailored toolset that fits their specific needs. De Jong emphasized the importance of integrating external tools and services, which are crucial for developers today.
One of the standout features of the Immens Engine will be its compatibility with agentic AI, a hot topic in the gaming community. While Epic has been gearing up to incorporate AI into Unreal Engine, De Jong believes that the older engines may not be equipped to fully support these advancements. He assures that while Immens will be friendly to AI architecture, it is fundamentally a robust game engine where developers still play a key role in game creation.
De Jong clarified, “We don’t want users to just press a button and have a game generated to compete with the millions of others out there.” His vision for the Immens Engine is one that encourages creativity and depth in game development, providing a platform for developers to truly innovate.
As this project unfolds, the gaming community is eager to see how Immens will reshape the landscape and offer fresh possibilities for developers around the globe.