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 clip, robed followers charge on pigs while firing machine guns, culminating in a terrifying image of massive, Cthulhu‑like tentacles.
One element that didn’t make the final cut was the infamous "snake gun," a weapon that originated from an off‑hand suggestion by a team member’s child. Joe Dietsch, the chief executive officer and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, recounted the moment: “A kid asked, ‘What if there’s a gun that shoots snakes?’ Using a rapid‑scaling tool we had built, I was able to prototype a functional snake‑shooter in roughly thirty minutes. The kid was blown away, and the weapon stayed in the game.” That anecdote captures the chaotic, improvisational spirit that defines Join Us, an open‑world sandbox survival experience where players can recruit followers—or invite friends in co‑op mode—to join a 1970s‑style cult.
The game’s design philosophy also reflects Wolf Haus’s technology‑first mindset, which has enabled a small crew to deliver a high‑fidelity title that would normally require a much larger staff. Michael Abbott, the studio’s chief operating officer, summed up their ambition: “We set out to be disruptors.
We told everyone we could build a AAA‑level experience with just twelve people. Most people thought we were crazy.” The founders’ confidence stems from a history of achieving big results on modest budgets. “Our roots are in indie filmmaking,” Abbott explained. “We’ve learned to punch well above our weight.” After a grueling series of roughly eighty pitches, the studio finally secured equity investment from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, both of which now hold stakes in Wolf Haus.
The leadership team’s Hollywood pedigree runs deep. Dietsch studied film at Chapman University in California alongside Louie Gibson, the son of actor‑director Mel Gibson and another co‑founder of Wolf Haus.
Together they co‑wrote and co‑directed the indie features Happy Hunting and Manifest West. Abbott, meanwhile, is the son of veteran makeup artist Larry Abbott and helped launch Ascendant Pictures, a production company 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 emerged from Dietsch’s early experiments in Unreal Engine. “I discovered that Unreal Engine could be downloaded for free, which felt like a gateway that removed a huge barrier to entry,” he said.
“I’d been a gamer my whole life, but creating something from scratch seemed impossible until I started watching YouTube tutorials and tinkering on my own.” Although he had no formal training, Dietsch built a few small prototypes before deciding to tackle something more ambitious: a doomsday cult simulator that fused his love of survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics. He created a proof‑of‑concept demo, showing it to Abbott, who then introduced it to Dooma, a partner studio. Dooma Wendschuh, Wolf Haus’s chief financial officer and narrative director, entered the gaming world after a career as a film producer and screenwriter. In the early 2000s he founded Sekretagent Productions, providing narrative services for titles such as Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins.
Later, he launched several tech ventures, including the cannabis formulation firm Ebbu, which sold for roughly C$430 million (about US$330 million). After the sale, Wendschuh bought a remote restaurant on a tiny Canadian island, intending to retire and enjoy a quiet life. Yet a sudden call from his former Hollywood‑Hills roommate, Michael Abbott, pulled him back into the industry.
"I watched the demo Joe sent me and it completely blew my mind," Wendschuh recalled, prompting him to join the project. Through Wendschuh’s network, the team attracted strategic advisor Reid Schneider, a former vice‑president at Warner Bros.
Games and now head of Raccoon Logic, the studio behind Journey to the Savage Planet. Schneider recruited Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, an ex‑Ubisoft Montreal programmer, to serve as chief technology officer. With this core group in place, the next hurdle was financing—a challenge amplified by a broader industry downturn in the summer of 2023.
Initial pitches generated interest but also skepticism. The studio eventually partnered with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in Los Angeles, re‑approached investors in 2024, and closed a seed round with Lifelike Capital and Krafton.
Wendschuh believes the CAA connection, along with the credibility of veterans like Schneider and Chartrand, was pivotal. "My agent at CAA, Derek Douglas, had represented me for twelve years and previously led the video‑game division at William Morris," he noted. "That kind of pedigree opened doors that would otherwise have stayed closed." Despite the high‑profile backing, Join Us remains a product of a remarkably lean operation—thirteen full‑time staff members at its peak.
Dietsch emphasizes that the small‑team structure was intentional: “We wanted everyone to have a voice, to touch the creative process, and to feel ownership over the final product.” To make such an ambitious vision feasible, the studio invested heavily in custom tooling from the outset. “If a system exists in the game, it must be scalable and debuggable by a single person,” Dietsch explained.
“We built a toolkit that let us iterate quickly and prevented the project from collapsing under its own weight as the world expanded.” The first year of development was therefore split between designing gameplay concepts and engineering the tools that would bring those concepts to life. The equity‑funded model gave Wolf Haus the runway to perfect these tools without the pressure of short‑term milestones. “Krafton and Lifelike’s investment has essentially self‑funded the game,” Wendschuh said. “We’re now only seeking modest project finance for marketing, but the core development has been covered by our equity partners.” This arrangement aligns investor incentives with the studio’s ethos: building reusable tools that can serve future projects, even if they temporarily slow down immediate development.
When asked about the role of generative AI—a hot topic in game development—both Dietsch and Wendschuh were unequivocal: the studio does not employ AI for creative work. "We believe a human touch is essential to game creation," Dietsch asserted.
"Using an AI to generate assets would undermine the very reason we get up each morning—to craft something with our own hands." Wendschuh added that the only AI they use is for mundane tasks like calendar management and email drafting. Krafton, despite branding itself as an "AI‑first" company, also insisted that Wolf Haus avoid generative AI in the creative pipeline, echoing similar positions taken by other Krafton‑owned studios.
The team’s commitment to handcrafted content extends to the game’s massive six‑kilometre‑square map, which was built entirely by hand, and its 15,000 voice lines, all recorded by human actors. "Those choices were non‑negotiable for us," Dietsch said, emphasizing that even a modest indie title can maintain a high level of artisanal quality. Dietsch also reflected on the contrast between filmmaking and game development. In cinema, an idea can take years to materialize, requiring countless approvals and the involvement of high‑profile talent before it ever reaches a set.
By contrast, a game concept can be prototyped within hours, allowing immediate iteration. "You can have an idea at breakfast and see it in the engine by lunch," he remarked, describing the exhilarating immediacy of interactive media. Wendschuh noted that film production is heavily front‑loaded, with intense periods on set followed by long stretches of post‑production and distribution hurdles. While anyone can technically shoot a movie with a backyard camera, breaking through without marquee names or a distribution deal remains rare.
Video games, however, face fewer gatekeepers; a small team can launch a successful title without needing A‑list actors or directors. Both founders agree that storytelling is the common thread binding the two mediums.
"Whether you’re making a movie or a game, you’re trying to deliver an experience, tell a story, and engage an audience," Dietsch concluded. "That core impulse hasn’t changed, even if the tools and distribution channels have evolved."