The trailer for Join Us first appeared during the Xbox Showcase in June, offering a glimpse of a darkly humorous cooperative cult simulator where cloaked followers zip around on pig‑back rides, unleash a barrage of machine‑gun fire, and eventually confront colossal, Cthulhu‑like tentacles. One of the most memorable, yet omitted, moments in that preview was the appearance of a "snake gun"—a weapon that fires live serpents. According to Joe Dietsch, the chief executive officer and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, the idea for that absurd armament came from a child of a team member. "His son asked, ‘Can we have a snake gun?’ and because we had built a modular gun system, I was able to prototype it in roughly thirty minutes.
The kid went wild, and we kept it in the final build," Dietsch recounts. That 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, where players can recruit AI followers or invite friends to join their bizarre congregation.
It also illustrates the studio’s technology‑first mindset, which has allowed a relatively tiny crew to produce a high‑fidelity title that would normally require a much larger budget and staff. Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, summed up the ambition: "We set out to be disruptors. We told everyone we could deliver a AAA‑level experience with just twelve people.
Most people laughed and said it was impossible." The team’s confidence stems from a background in independent filmmaking, where working with shoestring budgets is the norm. "We grew up on indie sets, learning to punch far above our weight," Abbott explains.
After a marathon of eighty pitch meetings, the studio finally secured equity investment from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, both of which took stakes in Wolf Haus. The founders’ Hollywood connections run deep. Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson, son of famed actor Mel Gibson; 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 transition to the Star Citizen universe.
Abbott later produced movies such as Fight for ’84 starring Jamie Foxx. Join Us originated from Dietsch’s early experiments in Unreal Engine. "I discovered Unreal was free to download and started tinkering after watching YouTube tutorials," he says.
Though he had never built a game before, he managed to release a couple of small prototypes before committing to a larger vision: a doomsday cult simulator that merged his love of survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics. He built a proof‑of‑concept demo, showed it to Abbott, and the two took the concept to Dooma, the studio that would later become Wolf Haus.
Dooma Wendschuh, the studio’s chief financial officer and narrative director, brings a unique blend of film and tech experience. He began as a producer and screenwriter before founding Sekretagent Productions, a writing house that contributed narrative content to titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins. In the 2010s he launched several tech ventures, most notably Ebbu, a cannabis formulation company that sold for roughly C$430 million (US$330 million).
After cashing out, Wendschuh bought a remote island restaurant in Canada, intending to retire. However, a sudden call from his old Hollywood Hills roommate, Michael Abbott, pulled him back into game development. "I saw the demo Joe had built and it blew my mind, so I came out of retirement," Wendschuh says. Through Wendschuh’s network, the studio recruited Reid Schneider—a former Warner Bros.
Games vice president now heading Raccoon Logic, the creators of Journey to the Savage Planet—as a strategic advisor, and Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, an ex‑Ubisoft Montreal programmer, as chief technology officer. With the leadership team in place, the next hurdle was financing. The studio began pitching in the summer of 2023, a period marked by a broader industry downturn.
"People liked what we showed, but the market was tough," Dietsch recalls. After signing with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and persisting through another round of pitches in 2024, Wolf Haus finally closed a seed round with Krafton and Lifelike Capital. The partnership with CAA—who also represent titles like 007: First Light—proved pivotal, as did the involvement of seasoned veterans Schneider and Chartrand.
"My agent at CAA, Derek Douglas, had represented me for twelve years in games and even ran the video‑game division at William Morris," notes Wendschuh. What truly sets Join Us apart is the scale of its production relative to its staff size. With only thirteen full‑time employees, the studio deliberately kept the team small to preserve a collaborative culture where every voice matters and everyone can influence the creative direction. To make such an ambitious project feasible, Wolf Haus invested heavily in custom tooling from the outset.
"Any system we build must be scalable and debuggable by a single person," Dietsch explains. "We spent the first year simultaneously designing gameplay and engineering the tools that would let that gameplay expand across a six‑kilometre‑square open world without collapsing under its own weight." The equity funding model gave the studio the runway to perfect these tools.
"Krafton and Lifelike’s investments funded the entire development, making the game essentially self‑sustaining," says Wendschuh. "We’re now adding a modest amount of project finance for marketing, but the core development was covered by our equity partners." A notable aspect of Wolf Haus’s philosophy is its staunch avoidance of generative AI in the creative process. While many studios tout AI‑assisted asset generation, Dietsch insists the team relies on human craftsmanship. "We don’t use generative AI for any creative work.
It would strip away the human touch that makes game development rewarding for us," he says. Wendschuh adds that the only AI tools they employ are mundane productivity aids like calendar scheduling and email drafting. Interestingly, Krafton, which has publicly positioned itself as an “AI‑first” company, explicitly required Wolf Haus to refrain from using generative AI for creative tasks as a condition of their investment.
This mirrors the stance of Neon Giant, another Krafton‑owned studio that publicly denied involvement in Krafton’s AI pivot. The commitment to hand‑crafted content extends to the game’s massive map and voice work. The six‑kilometre‑square world was built entirely by hand, and the 15,000 voice lines were recorded by human actors—an effort Dietsch believes is essential even for an indie‑scale title. Dietsch also reflects on the differences between film and game creation.
In cinema, an idea can take years to materialize, requiring countless approvals and the involvement of high‑profile talent to secure financing. By contrast, games allow for rapid iteration: "You can conceive an idea this morning, plug it into the engine by afternoon, and instantly see it in action. That immediacy is exhilarating." Wendschuh concurs, noting that film production is heavily front‑loaded with pre‑production logistics, whereas games benefit from fewer gatekeepers.
"Anyone can pick up a camera and shoot a backyard movie, but without star power or distribution, success is unlikely. In games, you don’t need an A‑list actor or director to reach an audience," he explains. Both founders trace their passion back to childhood. Dietsch recalls wanting to make either movies or games at age six, a decision that ultimately hinged on a Christmas camera and early programming on a TI‑83 calculator.
"Whether it’s film or games, the goal is the same: to craft an experience, tell a story, and engage an audience," he concludes. Join Us therefore stands as a testament to what a small, tightly knit team can achieve when they blend Hollywood storytelling instincts, entrepreneurial tech savvy, and a refusal to rely on shortcuts like generative AI.
The result is a quirky, high‑octane cult simulator that promises players a uniquely handcrafted adventure, all built by a dozen passionate creators who dared to defy industry conventions.