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 cultists zip around on pig‑back, unleash a barrage of machine‑gun fire, and the sequence culminates in a monstrous, Cthulhu‑like mass of tentacles. What didn’t make the final cut was the infamous snake‑gun, a quirky weapon that Joe Dietsch, the chief executive officer and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, says was born from a simple suggestion by a team member’s child.
"His son asked, ‘What if there’s a gun that shoots snakes?’" Dietsch recalls. "Because we had built a flexible weapon system, I could prototype it in about thirty minutes. The kid went nuts, and we kept the snake‑gun in the final build." That anecdote captures the chaotic, sandbox‑style gameplay at the heart of Join Us.
The game places players in charge of a 1970s‑styled cult, letting them recruit followers—or invite friends in co‑op mode—to expand their bizarre empire across an open‑world map. The experience is deliberately anarchic, blending survival mechanics with over‑the‑top, grindhouse‑inspired humor.
What makes the project truly remarkable is the team’s technology‑first philosophy, which has enabled a high‑fidelity, large‑scale title to be built by a remarkably small crew. Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, describes the studio’s mindset as "disruptive": "We told everyone we could pull off a AAA‑level game with just twelve people. Most people laughed, saying it was impossible.
But we’ve been doing indie film on shoestring budgets for years, so we know how to punch above our weight." The founders’ Hollywood pedigree runs deep. Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside 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 his shift to Star Citizen. Abbott later produced films such as Fight for ’84, starring Jamie Foxx.
Join Us began as a personal experiment in Unreal Engine. "Unreal was free to download, and I’d always loved games but felt there was a massive barrier to actually building something," Dietsch explains. He taught himself the engine through YouTube tutorials, created a few small prototypes, and eventually settled on the concept of a doomsday cult simulator—a mash‑up of survival gameplay, grindhouse cinema aesthetics, and his own storytelling interests. The proof‑of‑concept was rough but promising.
Dietsch showed it to Abbott, who immediately recognized its potential and brought it to Dooma, a production partner. The next key player was Dooma’s CFO and narrative director, Dooma Wendschuh, whose career started in film production and screenwriting before he transitioned to games in the early 2000s.
Wendschuh founded Sekretagent Productions, providing narrative services for titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins. He later sold a cannabis formulation company, Ebbu, for roughly C$430 million (about $330 million USD). After selling his cannabis venture, Wendschuh bought a remote restaurant on a tiny Canadian island, planning to retire.
Yet, in classic Hollywood fashion, a phone call from his old roommate Michael Abbott pulled him back into the industry. "I watched the demo Joe sent me, and it blew my mind.
It convinced me to come out of retirement and join the project," Wendschuh says. He then introduced Reid Schneider—formerly a vice president at Warner Bros. Games and now head of Raccoon Logic—to serve as strategic advisor, and recruited Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, a former Ubisoft Montreal programmer, as chief technology officer.
With the core team assembled, the next hurdle was financing. The studio began pitching in the summer of 2023, a period marked by a broader industry downturn. "People liked what we were showing, but the market was tight," Dietsch notes.
After initial outreach, Wolf Haus signed with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in Los Angeles, which helped refine their pitch and secure meetings throughout 2024. Their perseverance paid off when they closed a seed round with Krafton and Lifelike Capital, both taking equity stakes in Wolf Haus.
Abbott credits CAA’s representation—also handling titles like 007: First Light—and the involvement of seasoned veterans such as Schneider and Chartrand for smoothing the fundraising path. "My agent at CAA, Derek Douglas, had represented me for over a decade in games, and he also headed the video‑game department at William Morris," Wendschuh adds.
Despite the high ambitions, the studio has deliberately kept its headcount low—just thirteen full‑time staff members. Dietsch explains the rationale: "We wanted every person to have a voice and to be directly involved in the creative process.
It feels like a game made by a tight‑knit group rather than a faceless corporation." To make such a scope feasible, Wolf Haus invested heavily in custom tooling from the outset. "Any system we build must be scalable and debuggable by a single developer," Dietsch says. The first year of development was split between designing gameplay concepts and engineering the underlying toolchain that would keep the project from collapsing under its own weight as the world expanded.
The equity funding from Krafton and Lifelike allowed the studio to self‑finance the entire development cycle. "The money we received was used directly for production, so the game is essentially self‑funded," Wendschuh explains.
They have begun to tap modest project‑finance for marketing, but the core development costs remain covered by the equity partners. This arrangement aligns investor incentives with the studio’s long‑term value creation, encouraging the continued building of reusable tools. When asked about the role of generative AI—a hot topic in game development—Dietsch is unequivocal: the studio does not employ AI for creative work.
"We believe a human touch is essential. Turning creative decisions over to an algorithm would defeat the purpose of why we love making games," he says.
Wendschuh adds that the team only uses AI for mundane tasks like calendar management and email drafting, never for art, design, or narrative. Krafton, despite branding itself as an "AI‑first" company, also insisted that Wolf Haus avoid generative AI in the creative pipeline, fearing it could dilute the studio’s artistic integrity and potentially threaten jobs for voice actors and artists. This stance mirrors comments from Neon Giant, another Krafton‑owned studio that publicly distanced itself from the parent’s AI push.
The commitment to hand‑crafted content is evident throughout Join Us. The six‑kilometer‑square map is entirely built by hand, and the game features roughly 15,000 voice lines recorded by real actors—no synthetic voices. Dietsch emphasizes that preserving this level of craftsmanship is vital, even for an indie‑scale project. Transitioning from film to games also gave Dietsch a fresh sense of immediacy.
In cinema, a concept can take years to materialize, requiring countless approvals and a massive production pipeline. "In games, you can have an idea at breakfast and see it in the engine by lunch," he says, highlighting the rapid feedback loop that fuels his creative energy. Wendschuh points out that while film production is heavily front‑loaded—requiring big‑name talent and studio green‑lights before cameras even roll—games face fewer gatekeepers.
"Anyone can make a game with a modest budget, and the chances of reaching an audience are higher because distribution is more open," he notes. Both founders agree that the core drive behind any storytelling medium—whether film or interactive entertainment—is the desire to craft experiences that resonate with an audience.
"When I was six, I wanted to make movies or games; it boiled down to a coin toss and getting a camera for Christmas," Dietsch reflects. "I learned programming on a TI‑83, and that love for both mediums never left me.
Ultimately, whether you’re making a film or a game, you’re trying to tell a story and engage people." Join Us thus stands as a testament to what a small, focused team can achieve when they combine Hollywood experience, entrepreneurial savvy, and a dedication to building the right tools—all without leaning on generative AI. The game promises a wild, satirical ride through cult leadership, and its development story may be just as entertaining as the final product.