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 vehicles, unleash machine‑gun fire, and ultimately face off against colossal, Cthulhu‑like tentacles. One detail that didn’t make the cut was the infamous "snake gun," a weapon that originated from a simple suggestion by a team member’s child. Joe Dietsch, the CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, recounts how his son asked, “Can there be a snake gun?” With a proprietary tool that allowed rapid weapon prototyping, Dietsch whipped up a functional snake‑shooting firearm in roughly thirty minutes.
The result was a mind‑blowing surprise for the kid, and the weapon remains in the final game. That anecdote captures the chaotic, improvisational spirit that defines Join Us. The title is an open‑world sandbox survival experience set in a 1970s‑style cult. Players can recruit followers—either AI‑controlled or fellow gamers in co‑op mode—to expand their bizarre congregation.
The gameplay’s unpredictability mirrors the development philosophy of Wolf Haus, a studio that deliberately set out to be a disruptor in the industry. Michael Abbott, the studio’s chief operating officer, explains the team’s mantra: “We told everyone we could build a AAA‑level experience with just twelve people. Most people laughed and said it was impossible.” Their confidence stems from a background in indie filmmaking, where small crews routinely punch far above their financial weight. After 80 pitches, Wolf Haus finally secured equity investment from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, both of which now hold stakes in the company.
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 house founded by Chris Roberts before his transition to the Star Citizen universe. Abbott’s film résumé also includes producing credits on titles such as Fight for ’84 starring Jamie Foxx.
Join Us began as a personal experiment for Dietsch in Unreal Engine. “I discovered Unreal was free to download and thought, why not give it a try?” he says. Lacking formal training, he taught himself through YouTube tutorials and quickly produced a few small prototypes.
The concept that stuck with him was a doomsday cult simulator that fused survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics—essentially a love letter to the gritty, over‑the‑top movies he adored. He built a proof‑of‑concept demo, anticipating that at some point technical limitations would force him to abandon the idea.
When he showed the demo to Abbott, the latter recognized its potential and presented it to Dooma, a publishing partner. Dooma’s CFO and narrative director, Dooma Wendschuh, had previously worked as a screenwriter and producer before moving into games, contributing writing talent to titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins through his studio Sekretagent Productions. In the 2010s he founded several tech ventures, most notably the cannabis formulation company Ebbu, which later sold for roughly C$430 million (US$330 million).
After selling Ebbu, Wendschuh bought a remote island restaurant in Canada, intending to retire and spend his days walking his dog on the beach. That plan was interrupted when his old roommate from the Hollywood Hills, Michael Abbott, called out of the blue: “A friend of mine has made a video game.” Curious, Wendschuh watched the demo and was instantly captivated, prompting him to exit retirement and join the project.
He then enlisted Reid Schneider, former vice‑president at Warner Bros. Games and now head of Raccoon Logic (the studio behind Journey to the Savage Planet), as a strategic advisor. Schneider recruited Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, a veteran programmer from Ubisoft Montreal, to serve as chief technology officer. With a core team taking shape, the next hurdle was financing.
The studio began pitching in the summer of 2023, a period marked by a broader industry downturn. Despite the challenging climate, the team’s pitch deck impressed enough to earn representation from Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in Los Angeles. After a second round of pitches in 2024, they closed a seed round with Lifelike Capital and Krafton.
Wendschuh credits the CAA connection—and the presence of seasoned veterans like Schneider and Chartrand—for smoothing the path to investment. The most striking aspect of Join Us is its development model: a full‑time staff of just thirteen people. Dietsch emphasizes that the small size was intentional, allowing every team member to have a voice and directly influence the creative direction. To make such an ambitious open‑world title feasible with a lean crew, the studio invested heavily in custom tooling early on.
“If a system exists in the game, it must be scalable and debuggable by a single developer,” Dietsch explains. The first year of production was therefore split between ideating gameplay concepts and building the internal tools that would later keep the project from collapsing under its own weight. Funding from Krafton and Lifelike was structured as equity, meaning the studio could self‑finance development without external pressure to cut corners.
The investors are aligned with Wolf Haus’s ethos of tool‑centric development, encouraging the team to create bespoke solutions whenever they encounter a problem. While this approach can slow immediate progress, it empowers a tiny team to deliver a high‑fidelity experience that would otherwise require a much larger staff. When asked about generative AI—a hot topic in game development—the team’s answer was unequivocal: they do not use it for creative work.
Dietsch believes a human touch is essential to the soul of a game. “Turning the creative process over to an AI would defeat the purpose of why we get up in the morning,” he says.
Wendschuh adds that the only AI tools they employ are mundane productivity aids, such as calendar scheduling and email drafting. Interestingly, Krafton, which has publicly branded itself as an “AI‑first” company, explicitly required that Wolf Haus refrain from using generative AI in the creative pipeline. This mirrors a similar stance taken by Neon Giant, another Krafton‑owned studio. The studio’s commitment to handcrafted content extends to the game’s massive six‑square‑kilometre map and its 15,000 voice lines, all recorded by human actors.
Dietsch stresses that preserving a fully human‑generated audio experience was a non‑negotiable design decision, even for an indie‑scale project. Comparing his film background to game development, Dietsch highlights the immediacy of the latter. In cinema, a concept can take years to materialise, subject to layers of approval, casting, and budgeting. In contrast, a game idea can be prototyped within hours and tested directly in the engine.
This rapid iteration cycle fuels the studio’s creative energy and aligns with their philosophy of small‑team agility. Wendschuh notes that while film production is heavily front‑loaded—requiring high‑profile talent and studio green‑lights before any shooting begins—games have fewer gatekeepers. “Anyone can rent a camera and shoot a backyard movie, but without big names or distribution it’s unlikely to succeed,” he says. “A game, however, faces far fewer barriers; you don’t need an A‑list star or director to reach an audience.” Both mediums, according to Dietsch, share a core purpose: delivering an experience, telling a story, and engaging the audience.
He recalls that as a six‑year‑old he wanted to create either movies or games, and a simple coin toss—plus a Christmas camera—set him on the path that eventually merged both passions. In summary, Wolf Haus’s Join Us exemplifies how a small, Hollywood‑infused team can defy industry expectations by leveraging bespoke tools, strategic equity funding, and a steadfast refusal to rely on generative AI for creative work. The result is a richly detailed, hand‑crafted cult simulator that promises players a uniquely chaotic and immersive experience, all built by a dozen‑odd developers who believe that size does not dictate ambition.