The trailer for Join Us first appeared during the Xbox Showcase in June, offering a glimpse of a darkly humorous cooperative cult simulation. In the clip, robed followers zip around on pigs, brandishing machine guns, before the screen fades to an image of colossal, Cthulhu‑like tentacles. What didn’t make the cut, according to Joe Dietsch—CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, the studio behind Join Us—was the infamous snake gun. "One of the team members’ kids suggested, ‘What if there’s a snake gun?’" Dietsch recalls.
"We had a modular weapon system that let us prototype something in half an hour, so I built a gun that fires snakes on the fly. The kid was ecstatic, and the weapon stayed in the final build." That anecdote captures the chaotic, over‑the‑top gameplay that Join Us promises: an open‑world sandbox survival experience where players can recruit followers—or bring friends into the fold via co‑op—to build a 1970s‑style cult.
It also illustrates the studio’s technology‑first mindset, which has enabled a high‑fidelity, large‑scale title to emerge from a surprisingly small crew. Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, summed up the ambition: "We wanted to be disruptors.
We told everyone, ‘We don’t need a hundred‑person studio; twelve talented people can deliver.’ Most people laughed, but we proved them wrong." The team’s confidence stems from a history of achieving big results on lean budgets. "We come from indie film backgrounds, where you learn to punch well above your weight," Abbott says. After 80 pitches, the studio finally secured equity financing from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, both of which took stakes in Wolf Haus. The founders’ Hollywood pedigree runs deep.
Dietsch studied film at Chapman University in California alongside Louie Gibson, son of actor‑director Mel Gibson, who later co‑founded Wolf Haus. Together they 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, the production company originally founded by Chris Roberts before his move to Star Citizen.
Abbott later produced films such as Fight for ’84 starring Jamie Foxx. Join Us was born from Dietsch’s early tinkering with Unreal Engine. "The engine was free to download, and I’d always loved games, but the barrier to actually creating something felt huge," he explains.
He taught himself through YouTube tutorials, built a few modest prototypes, and eventually settled on a doomsday cult simulator—a concept that fused his love of survival mechanics, grindhouse cinema, and the narrative depth of film. He created a proof‑of‑concept demo and showed it to Abbott, who then introduced it to Dooma. Dooma’s CFO and narrative director, Dooma Wendschuh, had a varied career that began in film production and screenwriting before transitioning to games in the early 2000s. He founded Sekretagent Productions, providing narrative work for titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins.
Later, he built several tech ventures, most notably the cannabis formulation company Ebbu, which sold for roughly C$430 million (about US$330 million). After cashing out, Wendschuh bought a remote restaurant on a tiny Canadian island, intending to retire. Yet, in classic Hollywood fashion, a call from his old roommate Michael Abbott pulled him back. "I was watching a video of Joe’s prototype and it completely blew my mind.
I couldn’t stay retired," Wendschuh says. He then brought in Reid Schneider, former Warner Bros. Games VP and now head of Raccoon Logic, as a strategic advisor.
Schneider recruited Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, a former Ubisoft Montreal programmer, to serve as chief technology officer. With the core team assembled, the next hurdle was financing—particularly challenging during the industry downturn of 2023‑24. The studio pitched relentlessly, eventually signing with CAA (Creative Artists Agency) and re‑pitching in 2024. Their persistence paid off when Lifelike Capital and Krafton closed a seed round, providing the capital needed to keep development on track.
Abbott credits the CAA connection and the presence of seasoned veterans like Schneider and Chartrand for smoothing the path. "Derek Douglas, our CAA agent, had been my agent during my 12‑year game‑making stint and previously ran the video‑game department at William Morris," Abbott notes. What truly sets Join Us apart is the way it’s being built: a 13‑person full‑time team that maintains a tight‑knit, collaborative culture. "We entered the project with a clear sense of scope, but we also wanted every team member to have a voice and touch the creative process," Dietsch says.
To make such an ambitious open‑world title feasible with a small crew, the studio invested heavily in custom tooling early on. "Any system in the game must be scalable and debuggable by a single person.
We built a toolkit that lets us expand features across a massive map without the project collapsing under its own weight," Dietsch explains. This tool‑first approach consumed much of the first development year, as the team simultaneously designed gameplay and engineered the underlying systems.
The equity funding model gave Wolf Haus the breathing room to perfect these tools. "Krafton and Lifelike’s investment funds the game directly, making it essentially self‑funded.
We’re now only adding a modest amount of project finance for marketing," says Wendschuh. "Because our investors own equity, they’re motivated to see the studio increase in value, so they support our tool‑heavy ethos. When we hit a problem we can’t solve, we simply build a tool to address it.
It may slow development in the short term, but it enables a tiny team to create a game of this scale." When asked about generative AI—a hot topic in game development—Dietsch is unequivocal: the studio does not rely on AI for creative work. "We believe a human touch is essential. Using an AI to generate core content would defeat the purpose of why we love making games," he says. Wendschuh adds that the only AI they employ is for administrative tasks like calendar management and email drafting.
"We have no AI involvement in art, design, or narrative," he confirms. Even Krafton, which has branded itself as an "AI‑first" company, insisted that Wolf Haus avoid generative AI in the creative pipeline. "Our investors wanted assurance that the studio wouldn’t use AI to produce the game," Wendschuh notes, echoing a similar stance taken by Neon Giant, another Krafton‑owned studio. The team’s commitment to handcrafted content extends to the game’s world and audio.
The six‑kilometre‑square map is entirely hand‑built, and the 15,000 voice lines are recorded by human actors—an effort the developers consider vital, even for an indie‑scale project. Dietsch reflects on the differences between filmmaking and game development.
In film, an idea can take years to materialise, requiring approvals, casting, and studio greenlights. In contrast, a game concept can be prototyped within hours. "You can have an idea this morning, drop it into the engine, and see it instantly.
That immediacy is exhilarating," he says. Wendschuh observes that film production is heavily front‑loaded, with intense, high‑stakes set work and a reliance on a few high‑profile talent to secure financing.
While anyone can technically shoot a low‑budget film, breaking through without star power or distribution is rare. Games, however, have far fewer gatekeepers. "You don’t need an A‑list actor or director to make a successful game," he explains, noting that the lower barrier to entry dramatically increases the odds of indie success. Both founders agree that the core creative drive is the same across mediums: storytelling and evoking emotion.
"When I was six, I wanted to make either movies or games—it came down to a coin toss and whether I got a camera for Christmas," Dietsch laughs. "I learned programming on a TI‑83, so I’ve always been straddling both worlds.
Whether you’re making a film or a game, you’re delivering an experience, telling a story, and engaging an audience. The medium changes, but the mission stays the same."