Table of Contents
Arjan Brussee Pitches a Europe-Built Engine as an Alternative to Unity and Unreal
Arjan Brussee, co-founder of Guerrilla Games and a former product management director for Unreal Engine at Epic, has outlined an ambition that sits at the intersection of technology and geopolitics: a major game engine built entirely in Europe. Speaking to Dutch outlet De Technoloog, Brussee sees the idea as a gap in the current engine landscape, where the most dominant tools are American-owned and shaped by non-European priorities.
This is not a critique of Unreal or Unity’s technical capability. It is a question of sovereignty and alignment. Brussee argues that the market lacks a truly large-scale engine created by European developers and built to operate under European Union standards and regulatory principles by default, rather than being adapted later.
The Immense Engine and Why AI Is Not Optional in the Pitch
The project is being referred to as The Immense Engine, and Brussee’s most distinct design stance is that AI would be integrated into the engine’s foundation rather than bolted on as a feature layer. He is effectively arguing that any new engine trying to compete at scale cannot treat AI as a nice-to-have, because the industry’s production pressures are now defined by speed, iteration, and labour costs.
While Brussee did not share implementation specifics, the intent reads clearly: AI assistance would be present across workflows, from asset production and scripting support to optimisation and broader pipeline automation.
That mirrors where the industry is already drifting, but Brussee is proposing a toolchain where AI is structurally native, which could make it easier to standardise how teams use it, audit it, and keep it consistent, certainly something Guerrilla Games can use.
The Non-Gaming Angle Is Part of the Business Case
Brussee also points to a trend that most engine conversations now acknowledge: real-time 3D engines are no longer just for games. They are being used in architecture visualisation, automotive prototyping, simulation and training, and defence-adjacent scenarios. If a Europe-built engine is meant to be a serious competitor, that wider applicability is not a footnote. It is likely part of how such a project could justify the investment required.
A Europe-first engine could also appeal to organisations that need tighter regulatory alignment, clearer data handling, and procurement comfort within EU frameworks. That is a different market conversation than “can it render better,” and it is where Brussee’s pitch starts to look less like a hobby idea and more like an industrial strategy argument.
The Hard Part: Funding, Partners, and Reality Checks
Brussee’s vision is still early, and there is no clear information on the project’s development progress, timeline, or whether it has investor backing, institutional support, or a partner ecosystem. Those missing details are not minor. A modern engine is not just code; it is tooling, documentation, support, integrations, marketplace infrastructure, and a developer community that trusts it, and it could start with Guerrilla Games.
Still, Brussee is not an outsider throwing stones. His background gives the pitch weight: he has shipped major games, co-built a studio, and worked within the Unreal ecosystem. Even if The Immense Engine never materialises as a full competitor, the fact that someone with this profile is publicly making the argument reflects a growing European appetite for greater control over foundational creative technology.
