The trailer for Join Us first appeared at the Xbox Showcase in June, offering a glimpse of a darkly humorous cooperative cult simulation. In the clip, robed followers zip around on pig‑back, wielding machine guns, before the screen erupts into an image of colossal, Cthulhu‑like tentacles. One element that didn’t make the final cut was the infamous "snake gun," a quirky weapon that Joe Dietsch, the CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, says was born from a simple suggestion from a team member’s child.
"The kid asked, ‘Can there be a snake gun?’ We had a rapid‑prototyping tool that lets us scale weapons in minutes, so I threw together a snake‑shooting gun in about half an hour. The kid went nuts, and the gun stayed in the game," Dietsch recalls. That anecdote captures the chaotic, over‑the‑top gameplay that Join Us promises: an open‑world sandbox where players can recruit followers—or friends in co‑op mode—to build a 1970s‑style cult empire.
It also illustrates why Wolf Haus’s development approach is so distinctive. Michael Abbott, the studio’s chief operating officer, says the team set out to be "disruptors" by proving that a high‑fidelity title doesn’t need a massive staff. "We told everyone, ‘We can do this with twelve people.’ Most people laughed and called us crazy," Abbott explains. Their confidence stems from years of working on ambitious projects with shoestring budgets in the indie film world, where they learned to punch well above their weight.
The studio’s journey to funding was a marathon of pitches—eighty in total—before Krafton and Lifelike Capital finally took an equity stake in Wolf Haus. Those investors now provide the financial backbone that lets the team stay self‑sufficient while they polish the game. Wolf Haus’s leadership is steeped in Hollywood history. Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson, son of 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 shift to Star Citizen. Abbott later produced movies such as Fight for ’84 starring Jamie Foxx.
This cinematic lineage informs the studio’s aesthetic, blending grindhouse cinema vibes with survival‑game mechanics. The seed of Join Us was planted when Dietsch began tinkering with Unreal Engine, attracted by its free download model. "I’d loved games forever, but the barrier to actually creating something felt huge. I downloaded Unreal, followed YouTube tutorials, and started experimenting," he says.
After building a few tiny prototypes, he returned to an idea that had been percolating: a doomsday cult simulator that fused survival gameplay with the lurid energy of grindhouse movies. He built a proof‑of‑concept demo, showed it to Abbott, and the concept quickly gained momentum. Dooma Wendschuh, the studio’s chief financial officer and narrative director, entered the picture after a career that spanned film production, screenwriting, and video‑game writing for titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins.
He later founded several tech ventures, including the cannabis formulation company Ebbu, which sold for roughly C$430 million. After a brief retirement on a remote Canadian island, a call from his old Hollywood‑hill roommate Michael Abbott pulled him back into the game industry. Wendschuh was impressed by the Join Us demo and agreed to join, bringing along strategic advisor Reid Schneider—formerly a VP at Warner Bros. Games—and CTO Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, a veteran programmer from Ubisoft Montreal.
Securing capital proved challenging amid a broader industry downturn. The team began pitching in summer 2023, initially receiving polite interest but little commitment. After partnering with CAA (Creative Artists Agency) and re‑pitching in 2024, they finally closed a seed round with Krafton and Lifelike Capital.
Wendschuh credits the CAA connection—whose roster includes titles like 007: First Light—and the presence of seasoned industry veterans for opening doors that might otherwise have remained closed. Despite the high ambitions, Join Us is being built by a core team of just thirteen full‑time staff. Dietsch emphasizes that the small size is intentional: "We wanted everyone to have a voice, to touch the creative process, and to feel ownership of the final product." To make such a scope feasible, the studio invested heavily in custom tooling from day one. "Any system in the game has to be scalable and debuggable by a single person," Dietsch notes.
The first year of development was therefore split between ideating gameplay and constructing the internal tools that would allow a handful of developers to expand the open‑world map without the project collapsing under its own weight. The equity‑funded model gave Wolf Haus the breathing room to perfect those tools. "Krafton and Lifelike’s investment is essentially financing the game itself, so the development is self‑funded," explains Wendschuh. "We’re now adding a small amount of project finance for marketing, but the core development budget came from our equity partners." When asked about the role of generative AI, Dietsch gives a clear answer: none.
"We believe a game needs a human touch. Handing creative decisions over to an algorithm would defeat the purpose of why we love making games," he says. Wendschuh adds that the studio only uses AI for mundane tasks like calendar management and email drafting, never for content creation.
Interestingly, Krafton—publicly positioning itself as an "AI‑first" company—specifically required Wolf Haus to avoid generative AI in the creative pipeline, mirroring similar statements from Krafton‑owned Neon Giant. The commitment to handcrafted content runs deep. The six‑kilometre‑square map of Join Us is entirely hand‑built, and the game features roughly 15,000 voice lines recorded by real actors, not synthetic voices. Dietsch believes this human‑centric approach is essential, even for a modest indie studio.
Transitioning from film to games has given Dietsch a sense of immediacy he never experienced on a movie set. In film, an idea can take years to materialise, subject to countless approvals and scheduling constraints. In game development, an inspiration can be prototyped in a matter of hours and tested instantly in the engine. This rapid feedback loop fuels the studio’s creative energy.
Wendschuh points out that while film production is heavily front‑loaded—requiring big‑name directors or actors to secure financing—games have far fewer gatekeepers. "Anyone can rent a camera and shoot a backyard movie, but without star power or distribution, it’s unlikely to succeed.
By contrast, a well‑made game can find an audience without A‑list talent," he says. Both mediums, however, share a core purpose: delivering an experience, telling a story, and engaging an audience. Dietsch reflects on his childhood, when a coin toss decided whether he’d pursue movies or games.
"I learned to program on a TI‑83, so both have always been part of me. Whether you’re making a film or a game, you’re crafting an experience," he concludes. Join Us therefore stands as a testament to what a small, focused team can achieve when they combine Hollywood storytelling instincts, savvy tech development, and a refusal to rely on generative AI shortcuts.
The result is a sprawling, hand‑crafted cult simulator that promises both chaotic fun and a uniquely human touch.