Senior Unreal Engine Director Departs Epic Games to Develop Immens Engine with AI Support

In recent years, most video games have been created using two main game engines: Unreal Engine and Unity. In the past, we saw games made with CryEngine, but they are now rare, with few recent successful releases except for titles like Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. Regarding Unreal, particularly UE5, there have been numerous complaints about performance and issues. At this very moment, Epic Games has lost its senior director, who could become a future rival given his plan to develop his own graphics engine.

The primary reason studios opt for mainstream graphics engines like Unreal Engine or Unity is because there is an abundance of information available, thousands of successful projects, and a strong reputation behind them. This means that whether you are a studio with employees or an indie developer, you will benefit immensely. In fact, imagine trying to create a game with an engine you're unfamiliar with and for which there's limited information; it would be like playing on hard mode. Furthermore, you likely wouldn't achieve the desired results or would struggle significantly to do so.

Sjoerd De Jong, Senior Director at Epic Games, Left the Company Last Month with the Goal of Creating His Own Graphics Engine: 'The Industry Has Stalled Due to Epic and Unity'

Generally, Unity has been more prevalent in indie projects, while Unreal Engine 5 is used for higher-budget games. The issue is that Unity is no longer as appealing as it once was, and Unreal Engine 5 has improved significantly since its initial release, but developers are more interested in Unreal Engine 6 and what it will bring. Epic Games stated that it would be released at the end of 2028, and by then, there might already be competition created by Epic Games' senior director, as Sjoerd De Jong is developing his own graphics engine for video games.

Sjoerd De Jong served as the senior director and 'Lead Evangelist' at Epic Games for the past 12 years and reached a point where he believes progress requires creating a new engine. Jong opines that the video game industry has stagnated, limited to only the options of Unreal Engine and Unity without the ability to evolve beyond them.

The Graphics Engine is Called Immens Engine and Will Feature AI Agents to Aid Game Development

The graphics engine he is developing is called Immens Engine, and while you might assume he is working entirely alone after leaving Epic Games, he actually has a team of developers, including former Epic Games technical director Arjan Brussee. Immens does not expect to compete with UE or Unity in terms of features and content, as these engines have decades of work behind them. However, it aims to offer a graphics engine adapted to modern times.

To achieve this, the goal is to add a set of custom tools along with external services and libraries that game developers can utilize. These tools include AI agents, but it's not described as an AI engine itself, rather one that is compatible with AI. The rest of the functionality will operate like any other engine. Jong stated that he doesn't want an engine that creates a game with the press of a button, as this ultimately leads to generic results, market oversaturation, and few games that stand out.