The trailer for Join Us first appeared during the Xbox Showcase in June, offering a glimpse of a darkly humorous co‑op cult simulator where robed followers ride pig‑mounted platforms, unleash machine‑gun fire, and ultimately confront towering, Cthulhu‑like tentacles. One element that didn’t make the final cut of the teaser was the infamous "snake gun," a quirky weapon that originated from a spontaneous suggestion by a team member’s child. According to Joe Dietsch, CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, the idea was simple: "Can there be a snake gun?" Armed with a rapid‑prototyping tool, Dietsch whipped up a functional snake‑shooting weapon in roughly half an hour, delighting the youngster and cementing the weapon’s place in the final game. That anecdote captures the chaotic, experimental spirit that defines Join Us.
The title is an open‑world sandbox survival experience set in a 1970s‑style cult, where players can recruit AI followers or invite friends in co‑op mode to expand their bizarre congregation. The game’s design philosophy is rooted in the studio’s tech‑first mindset, which has allowed a tiny crew to deliver a high‑fidelity, content‑rich title that would normally demand a far larger staff.
Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, summed up the ambition: "We wanted to be disruptors. We told ourselves we could build something massive with just twelve people, and everyone else thought we were crazy." The team’s confidence stems from a history of punching above their weight. Many of the founders cut their teeth in indie filmmaking, where limited budgets force creative problem‑solving. "We come from indie film backgrounds, so we’re used to doing big things with small resources," Abbott explains.
After a grueling 80‑pitch marathon, Wolf Haus finally secured equity financing from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, both of which took minority stakes in the studio. The founders’ Hollywood pedigree runs deep.
Dietsch studied film at Chapman University in Orange, California, 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, a production company originally founded by Chris Roberts before he turned his attention to the space‑sim Star Citizen. Abbott later produced movies such as Fight for ’84, starring Jamie Foxx, further cementing the team’s entertainment credentials. Join Us began as a personal experiment in Unreal Engine.
"I discovered Unreal was free to download and started tinkering after watching countless YouTube tutorials," Dietsch recalls. Though he had no formal training, he managed to craft a few modest games before deciding to tackle a larger vision—a doomsday cult simulator that fused his love of survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics. He built a proof‑of‑concept prototype, shared it with Abbott, and the concept quickly gained momentum within the fledgling studio. The narrative side of the project was bolstered by Dooma Wendschuh, Wolf Haus’s chief financial officer and narrative director.
Wendschuh’s career started in film as a producer and screenwriter before he transitioned to game writing in the early 2000s, contributing story work 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 the cannabis formulation firm Ebbu, which later sold for C$430 million (approximately $330 million USD).
After a brief retirement on a remote Canadian island, a random call from his old Hollywood‑hill roommate Michael Abbott pulled him back into the industry, leading him to champion the Join Us project and recruit veteran game executive Reid Schneider and former Ubisoft Montreal programmer Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand as strategic advisors. Funding the venture proved challenging amid a broader industry downturn. The team began pitching in the summer of 2023, initially receiving polite interest but little commitment.
After partnering with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in Los Angeles and refining their pitch, they returned to the market in 2024 and finally closed a seed round with Lifelike Capital and Krafton. Wendschuh attributes part of the success to the CAA connection, which also represents high‑profile titles like 007: First Light, and to the credibility added by seasoned veterans Schneider and Chartrand.
Despite the high‑profile backing, Wolf Haus has kept its development roster deliberately lean—13 full‑time staff members at the time of writing. Dietsch emphasizes that a small team fosters a collaborative environment where everyone can influence creative decisions: "We wanted a space where each voice mattered, where the game truly feels like the product of a tight‑knit group rather than a faceless studio." To make such an ambitious open‑world title feasible with a modest headcount, the studio invested heavily in custom tooling from day one.
"Any system in the game has to be scalable and debuggable by a single developer," Dietsch notes. The first year of development was split between ideating gameplay features and building the internal toolchain that would later allow those features to flourish across a sprawling map without the project collapsing under its own weight. This tool‑centric approach also aligns with the investors’ expectations. Both Krafton and Lifelike view their equity stakes as long‑term bets on the studio’s enterprise value, encouraging Wolf Haus to prioritize robust, reusable tools over quick, hacky fixes.
One area where many studios have turned to automation is generative AI, but Wolf Haus deliberately shunned it for creative work. "We don’t use generative AI in the actual game development process," Dietsch states flatly.
The team believes that a human touch is essential for crafting immersive experiences, and they view AI‑generated assets as a potential threat to artistic jobs. Wendschuh adds that the studio only employs AI for mundane tasks like calendar management and email drafting.
Interestingly, Krafton—despite branding itself as an "AI‑first" company—insisted that Wolf Haus avoid AI in the creative pipeline, mirroring a similar stance taken by Krafton‑owned Neon Giant. The commitment to handcrafted content is evident throughout Join Us. The six‑kilometre‑square game world was manually built, and the title features roughly 15,000 voice lines recorded by real actors, not synthetic voices.
Dietsch argues that this level of human‑generated detail is vital even for an indie‑scale project, as it preserves authenticity and emotional resonance. Transitioning from film to games has also given Dietsch a sense of immediacy he never experienced on a movie set. In cinema, an idea can take years to materialize, requiring countless approvals and the coordination of high‑profile talent. In contrast, a game concept can be prototyped within hours: "You can have an idea this morning, drop it into the engine, and see it in action by lunch.
That instant feedback loop is exhilarating." Wendschuh points out that film production is heavily front‑loaded, with massive logistical hurdles before any shooting begins. While anyone can technically shoot a video with a backyard camera, breaking into the film market without star power or a distribution deal is exceedingly difficult. Game development, by comparison, presents fewer gatekeepers; a small team can release a polished product directly to digital storefronts without needing A‑list actors or directors. Both Dietsch and Wendschuh agree that the core creative drive—telling stories and delivering experiences—remains the same across mediums.
Dietsch reflects on his childhood, recalling a coin toss that determined whether he would pursue games or movies, and notes that his early programming on a TI‑83 calculator set the stage for a lifelong passion. "Whether you’re making a film or a game, you’re trying to engage an audience, tell a story, and create an experience," he concludes. Join Us is poised to be a testament to what a small, dedicated team can achieve when they combine Hollywood storytelling sensibilities, savvy tech development, and a clear refusal to outsource creativity to AI.
The game promises a bizarre, humor‑laden cult adventure that reflects its creators’ eclectic backgrounds and their determination to disrupt industry expectations with a lean, human‑centric approach.