A single AI agent could perform the work of ten to fifteen developers
A co-founder of Guerrilla Games is building The Immense Engine in Europe, a direct challenger to Unreal and Unity, the American platforms that have quietly governed the economics and creative conditions of game development for nearly two decades. The project arrives as European technologists grow increasingly uneasy with their dependence on tools whose terms, pricing, and futures are decided across the Atlantic. At its core is a wager that AI agents — capable of multiplying developer productivity by an order of magnitude — can compress the distance between a new entrant and two deeply entrenched giants. Whether the engine succeeds or not, it speaks to something larger: a continent beginning to ask whether sovereignty over its creative infrastructure is worth building for.
- Unreal and Unity's recent pricing controversies and unilateral rule changes have left studios of all sizes feeling exposed on foundations they don't control.
- A Guerrilla Games co-founder is now moving to fill that gap, developing a European-built engine explicitly designed to answer the vulnerability of depending on American corporate platforms.
- The engine's core gamble is that embedded AI agents — each theoretically replacing the output of ten to fifteen developers — can let smaller teams punch far above their weight.
- The road ahead is steep: Unreal and Unity don't just have users, they have ecosystems — asset stores, education pipelines, and years of accumulated community knowledge that won't be easily replicated.
- The project is landing at a moment when Europe's tech sector is actively choosing to build rather than borrow, framing the engine as both a practical tool and a statement about creative sovereignty.
A co-founder of Guerrilla Games, the Dutch studio behind the Horizon franchise, has begun building The Immense Engine — a European challenger to Unreal and Unity, the two American platforms that have dominated game development for nearly two decades. The move reflects a growing unease among European technologists about the continent's dependence on tools built and governed elsewhere.
That unease has sharpened recently. Both Unreal and Unity have drawn criticism for shifting pricing models and licensing terms with little warning, reminding studios that building on someone else's foundation carries real risk. A corporate acquisition or a change in strategy can reshape a project's economics overnight. The Immense Engine is being positioned as an answer to that fragility — a platform with no American parent company to answer to.
What distinguishes the venture is its central technological bet: the engine is being designed around AI agents capable of automating routine development tasks, with a single agent potentially handling work that would otherwise require ten to fifteen developers. The claim isn't about replacing people, but about multiplying what existing teams can accomplish — a meaningful proposition for studios operating on tight budgets.
The obstacles are real. Unreal and Unity have spent years building not just software but entire ecosystems: asset stores, educational programs, and deep community knowledge. Matching that requires more than technical parity — it requires offering something genuinely better or fundamentally different. The Immense Engine's AI-driven approach is one answer to that challenge, though whether it's sufficient remains unproven.
What the project makes plain, regardless of its outcome, is a broader shift in how Europe's technology sector sees itself. The impulse to build sovereign infrastructure — tools that reflect European values and aren't subject to distant corporate decisions — is growing. The game industry is too economically and culturally significant for that impulse to fade quietly.
A veteran of two of gaming's most influential studios is betting that Europe can build its own game engine—and that artificial intelligence might be the lever to make it work. The founder of Guerrilla Games, the Dutch studio behind the Horizon franchise, has begun developing what he's calling The Immense Engine, a direct challenger to Unreal and Unity, the two American platforms that have dominated game development for nearly two decades. The move signals a growing conviction among European technologists that the continent's creative industries have become too dependent on tools built and controlled across the Atlantic.
The project arrives at a moment when that dependence feels newly precarious. Both Unreal and Unity have faced backlash in recent years over pricing models, licensing terms, and the speed with which their parent companies can alter the rules governing how developers use them. For studios of any size, the prospect of building on someone else's foundation carries real risk. A change in terms, a shift in business strategy, a corporate acquisition—any of these can reshape the economics of a project overnight. The Immense Engine is being positioned as an answer to that vulnerability, a tool built by Europeans, for Europeans, with no American corporate parent to answer to.
What makes this particular venture noteworthy is not just the pedigree of its founder or the ambition of the goal, but the specific technological bet being made. The engine is being designed around the integration of AI agents—autonomous systems capable of handling routine development tasks that currently consume enormous amounts of human time and expertise. According to the project's framing, a single AI agent could theoretically perform the work that would otherwise require ten to fifteen human developers. That's not a claim about replacing people wholesale, but rather about multiplying the productivity of the teams that do exist. For smaller studios operating on tight budgets, or for larger ones trying to stretch their resources further, that kind of leverage could be transformative.
The timing is deliberate. The gaming industry is in the midst of a broader reckoning with artificial intelligence—how to use it, how to regulate it, how to ensure it doesn't cannibalize the work of artists and programmers. A European engine built with AI integration at its core could position the continent as a thoughtful alternative to the American approach, one that takes seriously the concerns of creators while still harnessing the technology's genuine capabilities. It's a narrative that appeals to both pragmatists and those skeptical of Silicon Valley's default settings.
The challenge ahead is formidable. Unreal and Unity have spent years accumulating not just users but entire ecosystems—asset stores, middleware, educational programs, community knowledge. They have the resources of major corporations behind them. Building something competitive means not just matching their technical capabilities but offering something genuinely better or fundamentally different. The Immense Engine's bet on AI-driven automation is one answer to that problem. Whether it's enough remains an open question.
What's clear is that the attempt itself reflects a shift in how Europe's technology sector sees itself. Rather than accepting American dominance as inevitable, there's a growing willingness to invest in alternatives, to build tools that reflect European values and priorities, to create infrastructure that isn't subject to the whims of distant corporate boards. Whether this particular engine succeeds or not, the impulse behind it is likely to persist. The game industry is too important, too lucrative, and too central to cultural production for Europe to remain indefinitely dependent on tools it doesn't control.
Citações Notáveis
A single AI agent could theoretically perform the work that would otherwise require ten to fifteen human developers— Project framing for The Immense Engine
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why now? Game engines have existed for decades. What's changed that makes a European alternative suddenly viable?
Two things, really. First, the American engines have become more aggressive about their business models—pricing changes, revenue sharing disputes, licensing uncertainty. Developers are genuinely nervous. Second, AI has matured enough that you can actually imagine automating significant portions of the development pipeline. That's new leverage.
But Unreal and Unity have massive installed bases. Thousands of games, millions of developers trained on their tools. How do you overcome that?
You don't, at first. You start with the studios that feel most constrained by the existing options—smaller European teams, perhaps, or those working on specific types of projects where the AI integration offers real advantages. You build from there.
The AI agents doing the work of ten or fifteen people—that sounds like it could be threatening to developers themselves. Isn't there a tension there?
There is, and it's real. But the framing matters. If you position it as a tool that lets smaller teams do bigger work, rather than a tool that eliminates jobs, you get a different reception. Whether that distinction holds up in practice is another question.
What would success actually look like for this engine?
Not necessarily beating Unreal and Unity at their own game. More like establishing a credible third option that attracts studios for whom European independence, AI-first design, or different business terms matter enough to justify the switch. Even capturing five or ten percent of the market would be significant.
And if it fails?
Then Europe learns something about the difficulty of competing in infrastructure, and the continent remains dependent on American tools. But the attempt itself signals that the dependence isn't inevitable—that alternatives are possible if someone's willing to invest in them.