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 teaser, robed cultists zip around on pig‑mounted platforms, wielding machine guns before the camera pans to massive, Cthulhu‑like tentacles looming in the distance. One element that didn’t make the final cut of the trailer was the infamous "snake gun," a weapon that has become a hallmark of the game’s off‑beat charm.
According to Joe Dietsch, the CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, the idea sprang from an unexpected source. "One of our team member’s kids asked, ‘What would a snake‑firing gun look like?’" Dietsch recalls. "We had built a flexible weapon‑creation tool that lets us prototype new arms in a matter of minutes, so I whipped up a snake‑gun in about thirty minutes.
The kid went nuts, and we kept it in the final build." That anecdote captures the chaotic, improvisational spirit that defines Join Us. The title is an open‑world sandbox survival experience where players can recruit followers—or invite friends in co‑op mode—to build a 1970s‑style cult empire.
The game’s design philosophy is rooted in the studio’s technology‑first mindset, which has enabled a small, twelve‑person core team to deliver a high‑fidelity, large‑scale product that would traditionally require a much larger staff. Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, summed up their ambition: “We wanted to be disruptors. We told everyone we could build this with a dozen people, and they all thought we were crazy.” The team’s confidence stems from a history of doing big things on shoestring budgets. Many of the founders cut their teeth in independent filmmaking, where they learned to “punch above their weight.” After 80 pitch meetings, Wolf Haus finally secured equity investment from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, giving the studio the financial runway it needed.
Wolf Haus’s leadership team is steeped in Hollywood pedigree. Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson—son of Mel Gibson—who later co‑founded the studio. 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 founded by Chris Roberts before his shift to Star Citizen. Abbott later produced films such as Fight for ’84 starring Jamie Foxx.
The seed of Join Us was planted when Dietsch began tinkering with Unreal Engine after discovering it was freely downloadable. “I’d been a gamer my whole life, but creating something felt out of reach,” he says. He taught himself the engine through YouTube tutorials, eventually building a handful of small prototypes.
The concept that stuck was a doomsday cult simulator that blended survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics—essentially a love letter to the movies and games he adored. He built a proof‑of‑concept demo, expecting to hit a technical wall soon after. When he showed the demo to Abbott, the latter recognized its potential and introduced it to Dooma, the company that would later become a key partner.
Dooma’s CFO and narrative director, Dooma Wendschuh, had previously worked as a producer and screenwriter before moving into games in the early 2000s, contributing writing to titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins. In the 2010s he founded several tech ventures, most notably the cannabis formulation firm Ebbu, which sold for roughly C$430 million (US$330 million).
After selling Ebbu, Wendschuh bought a remote restaurant on a tiny Canadian island, intending to retire and enjoy a quiet life. That plan was interrupted when his old Hollywood‑hill roommate, Michael Abbott, called with a surprising invitation: “A buddy of mine made a video game.” Intrigued, Wendschuh reviewed the early build of Join Us and was instantly captivated, prompting him to exit retirement and re‑enter the industry. He brought on Reid Schneider, former VP at Warner Bros.
Games and now head of Raccoon Logic (the studio behind Journey to the Savage Planet), as a strategic advisor. Schneider recruited Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, a former Ubisoft Montreal programmer, to serve as chief technology officer. With a solid leadership core in place, the next hurdle was funding—an especially tough task during the industry downturn of 2023‑24.
The team began pitching in the summer of 2023, receiving mixed reactions: “People liked the concept but the market was shaky,” Dietsch notes. After securing representation from Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and conducting a second round of pitches in 2024, Wolf Haus closed a seed round with Lifelike Capital and Krafton. The CAA connection proved valuable; their agent Derek Douglas had previously represented Wendschuh during his twelve‑year game‑development career and had headed the video‑game department at William Morris. What truly sets Join Us apart is the way it’s being built: a full‑scale, open‑world title developed by just thirteen full‑time staff.
The studio deliberately kept the team small to preserve a collaborative atmosphere where “everyone has a voice and touches the creative process,” says Dietsch. To make such an ambitious scope feasible, Wolf Haus invested heavily in custom tooling from day one. "If a system exists in the game, it must be scalable and debuggable by a single person," Dietsch explains. The first year of development was split between iterating on game design and constructing the internal toolset that would later allow the world to expand without collapsing under its own weight.
The equity financing from Krafton and Lifelike gave Wolf Haus the breathing room to perfect these tools. "The game is essentially self‑funded," Wendschuh clarifies. "We’re now using a modest amount of project finance for marketing, but the core development was covered by our investors’ equity stakes." One of the most striking aspects of the studio’s philosophy is its staunch refusal to rely on generative AI for creative work.
When asked about the buzz around AI‑assisted development, Dietsch gave a concise answer: "We don’t use any generative AI. The human touch is essential to us." Wendschuh adds that the only AI tools they employ are mundane productivity assistants for scheduling and email drafting, not content creation. Krafton, which has publicly positioned itself as an “AI‑first” company, actually required Wolf Haus to certify that no generative AI would be used in the game’s creative pipeline—a stance echoed by Krafton‑owned Neon Giant, which also denied involvement with AI‑generated assets. The 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 emphasizes that this was a non‑negotiable decision, even for a modest indie studio, because authenticity and artistic integrity matter more than shortcuts. Transitioning from film to games has given Dietsch a fresh perspective on immediacy.
In cinema, an idea can take years to materialize: "You write a script, wait for funding, get on set, and finally see it on screen," he says. By contrast, a game concept can be prototyped within hours. "You can have an idea at breakfast and see it in the engine by lunch," Dietsch notes, describing the exhilarating feedback loop that fuels his creative process.
Wendschuh observes that film production is heavily front‑loaded, requiring star talent and studio approval before a project ever gets off the ground. While anyone can shoot a low‑budget movie with a backyard camera, breaking through without marquee names or distribution is rare.
Game development, however, offers a more level playing field: "You don’t need an A‑list actor or director to make a successful game. The barriers are lower, and the audience is more accessible." Both founders agree that storytelling is the common thread tying their two careers together. "When I was six, I wanted to make either movies or games—it came down to a coin toss and a Christmas camera," Dietsch recalls.
He taught himself programming on a TI‑83 calculator, blending his love for both mediums. Ultimately, whether through film or interactive media, the goal remains the same: to craft an experience, tell a story, and engage an audience. The journey of Wolf Haus and Join Us exemplifies how a small, determined team with Hollywood know‑how, savvy entrepreneurship, and a refusal to outsource creativity to AI can disrupt the conventional game‑development model and deliver a bold, original experience.