The trailer for Join Us first appeared during the Xbox Showcase in June, offering a glimpse of a darkly humorous co‑op cult simulator. In the clip, robed cultists ride on pigs, unleash a hail of machine‑gun fire, and the sequence culminates with a monstrous, Cthulhu‑like mass of tentacles. One element that didn’t make the final cut was the infamous snake gun, a quirky weapon that CEO and creative director Joe Dietsch says was born from a child’s imagination. According to Dietsch, a team member’s son asked, “Can we have a snake gun?” Using an in‑house tool that can rapidly prototype weapons, Dietsch whipped up a functional snake‑shooting firearm in roughly thirty minutes.
The result amazed the youngster, and the weapon earned a permanent spot in the game. This anecdote captures the chaotic, improvisational spirit that defines Join Us – an open‑world sandbox where players can recruit followers or friends into a 1970s‑style cult and wreak havoc across a sprawling map. The development philosophy behind the title is equally unconventional.
Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, describes the studio’s ambition as a deliberate disruption of industry norms. "We told everyone we could build a AAA‑quality experience with just twelve people. Most people laughed and said it was impossible," he recalls.
Their confidence stems from a history of achieving big results on shoestring budgets in the indie film world. "We come from indie cinema and we’re used to punching far above our weight," Abbott adds. Wolf Haus’s founders bring deep Hollywood connections to the table. Dietsch studied film at Chapman University, where he met Louie Gibson—son of actor‑director Mel Gibson—and the two later 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 he turned his attention to Star Citizen. Abbott later produced movies such as Fight for ’84, starring Jamie Foxx. The seed of Join Us sprouted when Dietsch began tinkering with Unreal Engine after discovering it could be downloaded for free. "I’d loved games for years, but the barrier to actually creating something felt huge.
I started learning from YouTube tutorials and built a few tiny prototypes," he explains. Though he had no formal training, Dietsch quickly moved from modest experiments to a full‑blown proof‑of‑concept centered on a doomsday cult simulator—a hybrid of survival mechanics and grindhouse cinema that merged his twin passions for movies and games. After polishing the demo, Dietsch showed it to Abbott, who then presented it to Dooma, the studio’s early investor. Dooma’s CFO and narrative director, Dooma Wendschuh, had previously worked as a producer and screenwriter in Hollywood before transitioning to games 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, Wendschuh launched several tech ventures, most notably the cannabis‑formulation company Ebbu, which sold for roughly C$430 million (about $330 million USD).
Wendschuh’s post‑sale life took an unexpected turn when he bought a remote restaurant on a tiny Canadian island, intending to retire and enjoy a quiet existence. That plan was upended when an old Hollywood‑hill roommate, Michael Abbott, called out of the blue and said, “A buddy of mine has made a video game.” Intrigued, Wendschuh checked out Dietsch’s demo and was instantly hooked, prompting him to step back into development.
He then recruited former Warner Bros. Games VP Reid Schneider as a strategic advisor and brought on Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, a former Ubisoft Montreal programmer, as chief technology officer.
Securing financing proved to be the next hurdle. The team began pitching in the summer of 2023, a period marked by a broader industry downturn. Despite the challenging climate, the concept attracted interest, and after multiple rounds of outreach—including representation by Creative Artists Agency (CAA)—Wolf Haus closed a seed round with equity partners Kraft on and Lifelike Capital in 2024.
Wendschuh believes CAA’s clout, along with the credibility of veterans like Schneider and Chartrand, was instrumental in winning those investors. What truly sets Join Us apart is the scale of the project relative to the size of the team. At any given time, Wolf Haus employs roughly thirteen full‑time staff members. Dietsch emphasizes that this lean structure is intentional: "We wanted everyone to have a voice, to touch the creative process, and to feel ownership of a game built by a tight‑knit group." To make such an ambitious open‑world possible, 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 notes. The first year of development was therefore split between ideating gameplay and building the internal tools that would later enable the team to flesh out a six‑kilometre‑square map, populate it with hundreds of interactable objects, and manage complex AI behaviours without the project collapsing under its own weight. Funding from Kraft on and Lifelike Capital allowed Wolf Haus to finance the entire development internally, with only a modest amount of project finance earmarked for marketing.
"Because our investors hold equity, they’re motivated to see the studio increase in enterprise value, which aligns perfectly with our tool‑heavy ethos," says Wendschuh. "Whenever we encounter a problem we can’t solve, we build a tool to address it. It may slow us down in the short term, but it lets a tiny team achieve something that would normally require dozens of engineers." In an industry increasingly buzzing about generative AI, Wolf Haus deliberately steers clear of it for creative work.
"We believe a game needs a human touch," Dietsch asserts. "Turning development over to an AI would defeat the reason we get up in the morning." Wendschuh adds that the studio only uses AI for administrative tasks such as calendar management and email drafting.
"We have no AI involvement in any artistic aspect of the game," he confirms. Interestingly, Kraft on—despite branding itself as an “AI‑first” company—insisted that Wolf Haus not employ generative AI in its creative pipeline, echoing similar statements from Kraft on‑owned Neon Giant.
The commitment to handcrafted content extends to every facet of Join Us. The six‑kilometre‑square world is entirely hand‑modeled, and the game features roughly 15,000 voice lines recorded by human actors. Dietsch stresses that this level of manual craftsmanship is vital, even for an indie‑scale title. Dietsch also reflects on the differences between filmmaking and game development.
In cinema, an idea can take years to materialise, requiring scripts, green‑lights, and a host of high‑profile talent before production even begins. By contrast, a game concept can be prototyped in a single day and tested instantly within the engine. "You can have an idea this morning, put it in the engine, see it that afternoon, and iterate immediately," he says.
This immediacy, he believes, is a key advantage of interactive media. Wendschuh points out that while film production is heavily front‑loaded—requiring massive coordination of directors, actors, and studios—games face fewer gatekeepers. "Anyone can rent a camera and shoot a backyard movie, but without big names or distribution, success is unlikely. In games, the barriers are lower; you don’t need an A‑list actor or director to reach an audience," he explains.
Both men agree that the core creative drive is the same across mediums: to tell a story, evoke emotion, and deliver an experience. "When I was six, I wanted to make either movies or games. It came down to a coin toss and maybe getting a camera for Christmas.
I learned to program on a TI‑83, so I’ve always loved both," Dietsch muses. "Whether you’re making a film or a game, you’re crafting an experience and sharing a narrative, and that fundamental goal doesn’t change."