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 ride pigs, wield machine guns, and eventually confront colossal, Cthulhu‑like tentacles. One of the most memorable, yet omitted, moments was the appearance of a snake‑shooting gun. Joe Dietsch, the CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, explains that the idea came from a team member’s son, who simply asked, "Could there be a snake gun?" Leveraging a rapid‑prototyping tool, Dietsch managed to build a functional snake‑gun in roughly half an hour, delighting the youngster and cementing the weapon in the final product. This anecdote captures the chaotic, improvisational spirit that defines Join Us.
The game is an open‑world sandbox survival experience set in a 1970s‑style cult, allowing players to recruit followers or team up with friends in co‑op mode. The developers’ technology‑first mindset has enabled them to deliver a high‑fidelity title with a surprisingly small crew.
Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, describes the team’s ambition: "We set out to be disruptors, proving that a dozen people could produce something that traditionally requires a hundred. Everyone told us it was impossible, but our background in indie filmmaking taught us how to punch far above our weight." After an arduous 80‑pitch marathon, Wolf Haus finally secured equity investment from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, both of which now hold stakes in the studio. The founders bring deep Hollywood connections to the table.
Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson, son of Mel Gibson, and together they co‑wrote and co‑directed the indie features Happy Hunting and Manifest West. Abbott, the son of veteran makeup artist Larry Abbott, helped launch Ascendant Pictures—originally founded by Chris Roberts before his transition to Star Citizen—and later produced movies such as Fight for ’84 starring Jamie Foxx.
Join Us originated from Dietsch’s early experiments in Unreal Engine. "I discovered that Unreal was free to download, and despite loving games for years, I felt there was a huge barrier to actually creating something," he recalls. Starting with YouTube tutorials, he built a few modest games before deciding to tackle something larger: a doomsday cult simulator that fused survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics.
He crafted a proof‑of‑concept prototype, anticipating technical roadblocks that would eventually force him to abandon the project. When he presented the demo to Abbott, the latter recognized its potential and took it to Dooma. Dooma Wendschuh, Wolf Haus’s chief financial officer and narrative director, began his career as a film producer and screenwriter before transitioning to video games in the early 2000s.
He founded Sekretagent Productions, providing narrative services 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 company Ebbu, which sold for C$430 million (approximately $330 million). After selling Ebbu, Wendschuh bought a remote island restaurant in Canada, intending to retire. However, a call from his old Hollywood Hills roommate, Michael Abbott, about a video‑game project reignited his interest.
The demo impressed him so much that he emerged from retirement to join the effort. Wendschuh introduced the project to Reid Schneider, a former Warner Bros. Games vice president now heading Raccoon Logic, the creators of Journey to the Savage Planet.
Schneider became a strategic advisor and recruited Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, formerly a programmer at Ubisoft Montreal, as chief technology officer. With this core team in place, the next hurdle was financing—a challenge amplified by a broader industry downturn in mid‑2023. Initial pitches generated interest but no commitments.
After aligning with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in Los Angeles, the team resumed pitching in 2024 and eventually closed a seed round with Lifelike Capital and Krafton. Wendschuh credits the CAA connection—whose roster includes titles like 007: First Light—and the presence of seasoned veterans such as Schneider and Chartrand for smoothing the fundraising process. "My agent at CAA, Derek Douglas, had represented me during my twelve years in game development and previously headed the video‑game department at William Morris," Wendschuh notes.
Despite the high ambitions, Join Us is being built by just 13 full‑time staff members. Dietsch emphasizes that the team deliberately kept the roster small to preserve a collaborative atmosphere where everyone can influence creative decisions. To make such a scope feasible, the studio invested heavily in internal tooling from the outset.
"Any system in the game must be scalable and debuggable by a single developer," Dietsch explains. "We built a robust toolkit early on so that as features proliferated across the open world, the project wouldn’t collapse under its own weight." The funding model—equity stakes from Kraftor and Lifelike—allowed Wolf Haus to self‑finance development while reserving a modest portion of project finance for marketing.
This arrangement aligns investor incentives with the studio’s long‑term value creation, encouraging the continued development of proprietary tools. "Whenever we encounter a problem we can’t solve, we simply build a tool to address it," says Dietsch.
"It may slow us down short‑term, but it empowers a tiny team to produce a game of this magnitude." In an industry increasingly enamored with generative AI, Wolf Haus has deliberately steered clear of such technologies in the creative pipeline. Dietsch states plainly, "We don’t use generative AI for any creative work. The human touch is essential to us; outsourcing creation to an algorithm would defeat the purpose of why we love making games." Wendschuh adds that while the studio maintains a few AI subscriptions for administrative tasks—like calendar management and email drafting—these tools never touch the artistic side. Interestingly, Krafton, which has branded itself as an "AI‑first" company, explicitly required that Wolf Haus not employ generative AI for game creation as a condition of investment.
This mirrors Krafton‑owned Neon Giant’s public distancing from AI‑driven development. Both founders stress their commitment to human‑crafted content.
The six‑kilometer‑square map in Join Us is entirely hand‑built, and the game features roughly 15,000 voice lines recorded by real actors—an effort they deem vital even for an indie title. Dietsch reflects on the contrast between filmmaking and game development. In film, an idea can take years to materialize, requiring approvals, casting, and extensive pre‑production.
In games, an inspiration can be prototyped within hours, allowing immediate iteration. "You can have an idea this morning, drop it into the engine, and see it in action instantly," he says, describing the exhilarating immediacy of the medium. Wendschuh observes that traditional film production is heavily front‑loaded, with intense, high‑stakes set work and a reliance on securing a handful of high‑profile talent to greenlight a project.
While anyone could technically shoot a backyard movie, breaking through without star power or distribution is rare. By contrast, the video‑game landscape presents fewer gatekeepers; a small team can reach a global audience without A‑list actors or directors. Both founders acknowledge that their creative drive stems from a shared desire to tell stories and craft experiences, regardless of the medium.
Dietsch recalls his childhood fascination with both cameras and programming, noting that whether through film or games, the ultimate goal is to engage an audience with a compelling narrative. In summary, Wolf Haus’s journey illustrates how a blend of Hollywood heritage, savvy tech development, and strategic financing can enable a minuscule team to produce a sprawling, high‑quality game without relying on generative AI. Their story underscores the power of human creativity, disciplined tool‑building, and the unique opportunities the gaming industry offers to independent creators.