The trailer for Join Us first appeared during the Xbox Showcase in June, offering a glimpse of a darkly humorous cooperative cult simulator. In the preview, robed followers charge on pig‑backed steeds, unleash a barrage of machine‑gun fire, and the sequence culminates with an ominous vision of colossal, Cthulhu‑like tentacles. One detail that didn’t make the final cut was the infamous "snake gun," a weapon that was conceived almost on a whim, according to Joe Dietsch, the chief executive officer and creative director of Wolf Haus Games.
Dietsch recounts the origin of the snake gun: a young member of the development team’s family asked, “What if we had a gun that shoots snakes?” Thanks to an internal tool that lets the team prototype weapons in a matter of minutes, Dietsch was able to build a functional snake‑shooting firearm in roughly half an hour. The result was a moment of pure delight for the child, and the weapon has remained a quirky fixture in the final game. That anecdote encapsulates the chaotic, improvisational spirit that defines Join Us. The game 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.
The design philosophy behind the title is deeply technical, allowing a relatively small studio to produce a high‑fidelity, content‑rich experience. Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, explains that the team set out to be “disruptors.” “We told everyone we could build a AAA‑level game with a dozen developers,” Abbott says. “Most people laughed and said it was impossible.” Their confidence stems from a background in indie filmmaking, where they learned to stretch limited budgets far beyond what the resources would suggest. After 80 pitch meetings, the studio finally secured equity funding from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, both of which now hold stakes in Wolf Haus.
The founders’ Hollywood connections run deep. Dietsch studied film at Chapman University in California alongside Louie Gibson—son of actor Mel Gibson—who later co‑founded Wolf Haus and co‑wrote and co‑directed the indie features Happy Hunting and Manifest West. Abbott is the son of renowned makeup artist Larry Abbott and helped launch Ascendant Pictures, the production company founded by Chris Roberts before his transition to Star Citizen.
Abbott later produced movies such as Fight for ’84, starring Jamie Foxx. Join Us originated from Dietsch’s experimentation with Unreal Engine. “I discovered that Unreal was free to download, and that felt like a door opening,” he explains.
Having been a lifelong gamer and film enthusiast, he felt that the barrier to creating interactive experiences was too high for most people. He began learning the engine through YouTube tutorials, eventually crafting a handful of small prototypes before committing to a larger vision.
The core concept—a doomsday cult simulator that fuses survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics— kept resurfacing for Dietsch. He built a proof‑of‑concept prototype, anticipating that technical limitations would eventually halt progress. When he showed the demo to Abbott, the latter recognized its potential and presented it to Dooma, a venture that would later become instrumental in the studio’s growth.
Dooma Wendschuh, Wolf Haus’s chief financial officer and narrative director, entered the picture after a varied career that spanned film production, screenwriting, and video‑game narrative work. In the early 2000s he founded Sekretagent Productions, providing writing services for titles such as Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins. Later, he launched several tech enterprises, including Ebbu, a cannabis‑formulation company that sold for roughly C$430 million (US$330 million). Following the sale, Wendschuh bought a remote restaurant on a tiny Canadian island, intending to retire.
However, a sudden call from his old Hollywood Hills roommate, Michael Abbott, pulled him back into the industry. Abbott told him about a video game project by his friend Joe Dietsch, and after reviewing the demo, Wendschuh was so impressed that he abandoned his retirement plans to join the effort.
He then recruited Reid Schneider—former vice president at Warner Bros. Games and now head of Raccoon Logic, the studio behind Journey to the Savage Planet—as a strategic advisor, and brought in Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, an ex‑Ubisoft Montreal programmer, to serve as chief technology officer. With the core team assembled, the next hurdle was financing, a daunting task given the industry’s downturn in mid‑2023. The studio began pitching in the summer of that year, receiving positive but cautious feedback.
After partnering with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in Los Angeles, they renewed their outreach 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 Derek Douglas, who also represented me during my twelve‑year game‑development career, helped open doors,” he notes. What truly distinguishes Join Us is its development model: a studio of just thirteen full‑time staff members. Dietsch emphasizes that the team entered the project with a clear understanding of its scope, aiming to preserve a tight‑knit culture where every voice matters and every employee can directly influence the creative direction.
To achieve such ambition with a lean crew, 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.
The studio devoted a substantial portion of its first year to constructing a robust toolset that would allow the game’s sprawling open world to grow without collapsing under its own weight. This approach also lays the groundwork for future projects, as the same tools can be repurposed or expanded.
The funding structure further enabled this tooling‑first strategy. Krafton and Lifelike’s equity investment was used to self‑finance development, with only a modest amount of project finance earmarked for marketing.
Because the investors’ returns are tied to the studio’s enterprise value, they encourage Wolf Haus to keep building internal tools rather than outsourcing solutions. When asked about the role of generative AI—a hot topic in game development—Dietsch gives a decisive answer: the studio does not employ AI for creative tasks. “We believe a human touch is essential,” he says. “Turning the creative process over to an algorithm would defeat the very reason we get up each morning.” Wendschuh adds that the team only uses AI for mundane administrative functions like calendar management and email drafting.
Krafton, despite branding itself as an “AI‑first” company, also insisted that Wolf Haus refrain from using generative AI in the game's creation. This stance mirrors that of Neon Giant, another Krafton‑owned studio that publicly distanced itself from the parent’s AI pivot. The commitment to handcrafted content extends to the game’s world and audio. The six‑kilometer‑square map of Join Us was built entirely by hand, and the title features roughly 15,000 voice lines recorded by human actors—an effort that the team felt was crucial even for an indie‑scale project.
Dietsch reflects on the contrast between filmmaking and game development. In cinema, an idea can take years to materialize, requiring approvals, casting, and extensive pre‑production. In games, however, an inspiration can be prototyped within hours, allowing creators to see and iterate on their vision almost instantly.
This immediacy, he argues, is one of the most exhilarating aspects of interactive media. Wendschuh observes that film production is heavily front‑loaded, with intense, short‑term bursts of activity followed by long periods of waiting for greenlights and distribution deals. By contrast, the video‑game industry has fewer gatekeepers; a small team can release a successful title without needing A‑list talent or studio backing.
Both founders agree that the core creative drive—telling stories and delivering experiences—remains the same across mediums. Dietsch recalls that as a child he was torn between making movies or games, a decision that ultimately hinged on whether he received a camera for Christmas. He taught himself programming on a TI‑83 calculator, and that early love for both crafts has informed his career.
“Whether you’re making a film or a game, you’re trying to engage an audience, tell a story, and give them an experience,” he concludes. Join Us is poised to showcase how a small, technically adept team with Hollywood lineage can produce a large‑scale, high‑quality game without relying on generative AI, proving that ingenuity, custom tools, and a clear creative vision can rival the output of far larger studios.