Arjan Brussee, the Guerrilla Games co-founder who later spent more than eight years at Epic Games, says he is building a new European game engine designed to compete with Unreal Engine, Unity and other major development tools.
The project is called The Immense Engine. Speaking on the Dutch podcast De Technoloog, as reported by VGC, Brussee said the engine is being made in the Netherlands as a European-hosted alternative to technology from the United States and China.
"No one is currently making an engine that is fully European-hosted, built by Europeans, and complies with European rules and guidelines," Brussee said.
Brussee is not pitching the engine as a simple clone of current tools. He said the rise of AI creates a chance to rethink how engine software is assembled, with AI agents treated as part of the foundation instead of an add-on layered over older workflows.
"The rise of AI means that we need to approach the development of this kind of crucial software differently," he said. "As an old hand with a vision of how things should work, I see opportunities there."
The idea arrives at a time when Unreal Engine continues to sit at the center of many high-end game projects. Studios are still moving live games and upcoming releases onto Epic's technology, including recent UE5 upgrade efforts such as Conan Exiles Enhanced. A credible European alternative would be a major technical lift, especially because commercial engines depend on years of tooling, documentation, support and developer trust.
Brussee's own background is why the claim is likely to draw attention. He worked on Epic's Jazz Jackrabbit games in the 1990s, co-founded Guerrilla Games in 2003 and later held Unreal Engine-related leadership roles at Epic. He also worked at Electronic Arts and co-founded Boss Key Productions, the studio behind LawBreakers.
The Immense Engine is not being presented as a games-only project. Brussee said 3D worlds are becoming important outside traditional game development, with possible uses in logistics and defense simulation. European hosting and compliance could be part of that pitch if the engine moves beyond game studios.
There is no release window yet. That makes The Immense Engine more of an ambitious industry signal than an immediate Unreal Engine threat, but Brussee is describing a project aimed at one of the most difficult parts of game development, the tools developers use before players ever see a trailer or screenshot.