The trailer for "Join Us" first appeared during the Xbox Showcase in June, giving viewers a glimpse of a darkly comedic, co‑op cult simulation where robed followers charge on pig‑back while firing machine guns, culminating in a monstrous, Cthulhu‑like tentacle vision. One of the most memorable, though omitted, moments is the appearance of a snake‑shooter weapon. Joe Dietsch, the CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, explains that the idea came from a team member’s son, who simply asked, “Can there be a snake gun?” Using an internal tool that lets the team prototype weapons in minutes, Dietsch whipped up a functional snake‑shooting gun in roughly half an hour.
The result was a jaw‑dropping feature that still lives in the final build. That anecdote captures the chaotic, over‑the‑top gameplay that defines "Join Us," an open‑world sandbox survival game where players can recruit followers—or other players in co‑op mode—to build a 1970s‑style cult. It also illustrates the studio’s technology‑first mindset, which has enabled a small crew to produce a high‑fidelity title that would normally require a far larger staff.
Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, says the team set out to be disruptors: “We told everyone we could do everything with twelve people. Most people laughed and said it was impossible.” Their confidence stems from a history of punching well above their weight in the indie film world, where they learned to stretch limited budgets into ambitious projects.
After roughly eighty pitches, the studio finally secured equity financing from Krafton and Lifelike Capital. Both investors took a stake in Wolf Haus, providing the capital needed to bring the game to life. The founding trio brings deep Hollywood connections to the table.
Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson—son of actor Mel Gibson—and the two 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 work on "Star Citizen." Abbott later produced films such as "Fight for ’84" starring Jamie Foxx. The seed of "Join Us" was planted when Dietsch began experimenting with Unreal Engine. He recalls that the engine’s free download removed a major barrier to entry: “I’d loved games for years, but creating one felt out of reach.
I started watching YouTube tutorials and tinkering, and soon I had a few small prototypes.” Though he had no formal game‑development background, Dietsch eventually gravitated toward a doomsday‑cult concept that blended survival mechanics with grindhouse‑style cinema—a natural extension of his film interests. He built a proof‑of‑concept demo, assuming it would eventually hit a technical wall.
When he showed it to Abbott, the latter recognized its potential and presented it to Dooma, a partner studio. Dooma’s CFO and narrative director, Dooma Wendschuh, had previously produced and written for films 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" through his company Sekretagent Productions. In the 2010s he founded several tech ventures, most notably a cannabis formulation firm called 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. Yet a sudden call from his old Hollywood Hills roommate, Michael Abbott, changed those plans.
Abbott told him a friend had built a video game, and after watching Dietsch’s demo, Wendschuh was convinced to come out of retirement. He introduced the project to Reid Schneider, a former Warner Bros.
Games vice‑president now heading Raccoon Logic (the makers of "Journey to the Savage Planet"), who joined as a strategic advisor. Schneider recruited Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, an ex‑Ubisoft Montreal programmer, to serve as chief technology officer. With the core team assembled, the next hurdle was funding—a daunting task given the industry’s downturn in mid‑2023.
The studio began pitching that summer, receiving polite interest but facing a skeptical market. They eventually enlisted Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in Los Angeles, which helped them refine their pitch and secure a seed round in 2024 from Lifelike Capital and Krafton.
Wendschuh credits CAA’s representation—also handling titles like "007: First Light"—and the presence of seasoned veterans like Schneider and Chartrand for smoothing the path. Despite the high‑profile backers, the studio remains lean, employing only thirteen full‑time staff members. Dietsch emphasizes that this small‑team structure preserves a collaborative atmosphere where everyone contributes creatively.
To make such an ambitious project feasible, Wolf Haus invested heavily in custom tooling from the outset. "If a system exists in the game, it must be scalable and debuggable by a single developer," Dietsch explains. The first year of development was split between ideating gameplay and building the internal tools that would later allow the team to expand the open‑world map without the project collapsing under its own weight.
The equity funding model gave Wolf Haus the runway to perfect these tools. Krafton and Lifelike’s capital financed the entire development, with only a modest amount of project finance earmarked for marketing.
This arrangement aligns investor incentives with the studio’s long‑term value creation, encouraging the team to keep building reusable tools even when it slows short‑term progress. "Whenever we encounter a problem we don’t know how to solve, we simply build a tool to address it," says Wendschuh. "It may add time, but it enables us to achieve something that would otherwise be impossible with such a small crew." When asked about the role of generative AI, Dietsch gives a clear answer: none.
The studio deliberately avoids AI‑generated assets, believing that a human touch is essential to the creative process. "Turning development over to an algorithm would defeat the reason we get up every morning," he says. Wendschuh adds that while the team uses AI for mundane tasks like calendar management and email drafting, they never apply it to artistic work. Krafton, despite branding itself as an "AI‑first" company, also discouraged the use of generative AI in Wolf Haus’s pipeline, preferring to invest in studios that rely on human craftsmanship.
This stance mirrors comments from Neon Giant, another Krafton‑owned studio that publicly denied involvement in Krafton’s AI pivot. Both companies stress the importance of preserving jobs for voice actors, artists, and other creatives. Indeed, the six‑kilometre‑square map of "Join Us" is hand‑crafted, and the game features roughly 15,000 voice lines recorded by real actors—an impressive feat for an indie title.
Dietsch highlights the immediacy of game development compared to film. In cinema, an idea can take years to materialize, requiring extensive pre‑production, casting, and studio approval. In contrast, a game concept can be prototyped in a single morning, placed into the engine, and instantly visualized.
This rapid feedback loop fuels the team’s enthusiasm. Wendschuh notes that film production is heavily front‑loaded: securing high‑profile directors or actors is often a prerequisite for greenlighting a project. While anyone can technically shoot a movie with a modest camera, achieving commercial success without established names or distribution channels is rare. Game development, by contrast, has fewer gatekeepers, allowing smaller teams to reach audiences without A‑list talent.
Both Dietsch and Wendschuh see a shared creative impulse between movies and games: storytelling and immersive experience. Dietsch recalls that as a child he wanted to make either movies or games, and a simple coin toss—plus a Christmas camera—set him on this path. He learned programming on a TI‑83 calculator, blending technical curiosity with narrative passion. Ultimately, whether through film or interactive media, the goal remains the same: to craft an experience that captivates, moves, and entertains the audience.
"Join Us" therefore stands as a testament to what a tightly knit, technically adept team can achieve without relying on generative AI or massive staffing. By leveraging Hollywood expertise, strategic funding, and a commitment to handcrafted content, Wolf Haus is poised to deliver a distinctive, chaotic cult‑simulator that challenges industry assumptions about scale, technology, and creative ownership.