The trailer for Join Us first appeared during the Xbox Showcase in June, offering a glimpse of a darkly humorous co‑op cult simulator where robed followers zip around on pigs, wield machine guns, and eventually confront massive, Cthulhu‑like tentacles. One of the most memorable, yet omitted, moments was the appearance of a "snake gun"—a weapon that literally fires serpents.
According to Joe Dietsch, the CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, the idea came from a team member’s son who simply asked, “Can there be a snake gun?” Using an internal tool that allowed rapid weapon prototyping, Dietsch was able to construct the bizarre firearm in roughly thirty minutes. The result was a jaw‑dropping feature that still lives in the final build.
That anecdote captures the chaotic, improvisational spirit that defines Join Us, an open‑world sandbox survival game set in a 1970s‑style cult. Players can recruit AI followers or invite friends in co‑op mode to build and expand their own cultist empire.
The game’s design philosophy mirrors the studio’s broader approach: lean, tool‑centric, and deliberately disruptive. Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, summed it up succinctly: “We wanted to prove we could deliver a AAA‑level experience with a twelve‑person team, even though everyone told us it was impossible.” The team’s confidence stems from a history of achieving big results on shoestring budgets.
Many of the founders cut their teeth in independent film, where resourcefulness is a daily requirement. "We come from indie cinema and we’re used to punching well above our weight," Abbott explains. After a grueling 80‑pitch marathon, the studio finally secured equity investment from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, both of which took stakes in Wolf Haus. Wolf Haus’s leadership is steeped in Hollywood pedigree.
Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson—son of Mel Gibson—and the two later co‑wrote and co‑directed the indie features Happy Hunting and Manifest West. Abbott is the son of veteran makeup artist Larry Abbott and helped launch Ascendant Pictures, a production company originally founded by Chris Roberts before his transition to the Star Citizen project. Abbott later produced films such as Fight for ’84, starring Jamie Foxx.
This blend of cinematic storytelling and entrepreneurial grit informs the narrative tone of Join Us. The seed of Join Us sprouted when Dietsch began tinkering with Unreal Engine, attracted by its free download model.
"I’d loved games for as long as I’d watched movies, but the barrier to actually creating something felt huge," he recalls. By following YouTube tutorials, he built a few small prototypes before committing to a larger vision: a doomsday cult simulator that fused survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics.
He built a proof‑of‑concept demo, ran it past Abbott, and the concept was handed off to Dooma for further development. Dooma Wendschuh, the studio’s CFO and narrative director, transitioned from a film‑writing career to video games in the early 2000s, founding Sekretagent Productions, which supplied narrative work for titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins. Later, he launched several tech ventures, most notably the cannabis‑formulation firm Ebbu, which sold for C$430 million (approximately $330 million USD). After selling Ebbu, Wendschuh bought a remote island restaurant in Canada, intending to retire.
A chance call from his old Hollywood‑hills roommate, Michael Abbott, pulled him back into development when he was shown Dietsch’s prototype and was instantly impressed. Wendschuh then recruited Reid Schneider—former VP at Warner Bros. Games and now head of Raccoon Logic, the creators of Journey to the Savage Planet—as a strategic advisor. Schneider brought on Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, a veteran programmer from Ubisoft Montreal, to serve as chief technology officer.
With this core in place, the studio turned its focus to financing. Pitching began in the summer of 2023, a period marked by an industry downturn that made investors cautious.
Nonetheless, the team’s reputation and the novelty of their vision earned them a seed round from Lifelike Capital and Krafton. The partnership with CAA (Creative Artists Agency) proved instrumental. Derek Douglas, the studio’s agent at CAA, had previously represented Wendschuh during his twelve‑year stint in game development and had headed the video‑game department at William Morris. This high‑level representation opened doors to investors and strategic partners who appreciated the studio’s blend of Hollywood storytelling and technical ingenuity.
What truly sets Join Us apart is the way it’s being built: a 13‑person full‑time team that emphasizes shared ownership of creative decisions. Dietsch stresses that the studio deliberately kept the roster small so that “everyone has a voice, everyone touches the creative, and you feel like this is a game made by a specific group of people.” To make such an ambitious open‑world title feasible with limited manpower, the team invested heavily in custom tooling early in development. "If a system exists in the game, it must be scalable and debuggable by a single developer," Dietsch notes.
The first year was therefore split between ideating gameplay and engineering the pipelines that would later allow the project to scale without collapsing under its own weight. Funding from Krafton and Lifelike was structured as equity, meaning the studio could self‑finance the core development while using a modest amount of project finance for marketing.
This model gave the team the freedom to build the extensive toolset they deemed essential, even if it slowed short‑term progress. "Our investors are incentivized to increase the studio’s enterprise value, so they support us in building tools rather than pushing us to cut corners," Wendschuh explains. In an era where many studios tout generative‑AI‑driven pipelines, Wolf Haus has taken a contrary stance.
Dietsch affirms, "We don’t use any generative AI for creative work. The human touch is vital to us; handing the creative process over to an algorithm would defeat the purpose of why we love making games." Wendschuh adds that the only AI tools they employ are mundane productivity aids—calendar scheduling and email drafting—nothing that influences design, art, or narrative.
Interestingly, Krafton, which has publicly positioned itself as an “AI‑first” company, explicitly required Wolf Haus to avoid generative AI in the creative process as a condition of their investment. The studio’s commitment to handcrafted content extends to the game’s massive six‑kilometre‑square map and its 15,000 voice lines, all recorded by human actors. Dietsch believes this level of artisanal effort is crucial, even for an indie‑scale project, because it preserves the authenticity and emotional resonance that AI‑generated assets often lack. Dietsch also reflects on the differences between film and game creation.
In cinema, an idea can take years to materialize, subject to layers of approval, casting, and studio green‑lights. By contrast, a game concept can be prototyped within hours: "You can have an idea in the morning, drop it into the engine, and see it instantly.
That immediacy is exhilarating." Wendschuh points out that while film production is heavily front‑loaded—requiring high‑profile talent to secure financing—games have far fewer gatekeepers. "Anyone could technically make a movie with a backyard camera, but without big names or distribution, success is unlikely. In games, the barrier to entry is lower, and you don’t need A‑list actors or directors to reach an audience," he says.
Both founders agree that storytelling is the common thread binding the two mediums. Dietsch recalls that as a child he was torn between making movies or games, a decision that ultimately hinged on a Christmas gift—a camera.
He learned programming on a TI‑83 calculator, cementing a lifelong passion for interactive narratives. "Whether you’re making a film or a game, you’re trying to give someone an experience, tell a story, and engage them.
That core purpose doesn’t change," he concludes. Join Us therefore stands as a testament to what a small, focused team can achieve when they blend Hollywood storytelling expertise, savvy entrepreneurship, and a dedication to building their own tools— all while consciously rejecting the shortcut of generative AI in favor of human‑crafted artistry.