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 zip around on pigs, wield machine guns, and eventually confront colossal, Cthulhu‑like tentacles. One element that didn’t make the final cut of the teaser was the infamous "snake gun," a weapon that, according to Joe Dietsch—CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games—originated from a simple suggestion by a team member’s child.
"His son asked, ‘What if there was a gun that shot snakes?’ We had a rapid‑prototyping tool that let us scale a weapon in minutes, so I whipped up a snake‑shooter in about half an hour. The kid went wild, and we kept it in the final build," Dietsch recalls.
That anecdote captures the chaotic, improvisational spirit that defines Join Us, an open‑world sandbox survival game where players can recruit AI followers or friends into a 1970s‑style cult. It also highlights the studio’s tech‑first philosophy, which has enabled a small crew to produce a high‑fidelity title that would normally require a much larger staff.
Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, sums up their ambition: "We set out to be disruptors. Everyone told us a twelve‑person team couldn’t deliver a game of this scope, but we knew from indie filmmaking that a lean crew can punch well above its weight." After 80 pitch meetings, the studio finally secured equity investment from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, giving them the financial runway to continue development without resorting to massive outsourcing or AI shortcuts. The founders’ Hollywood pedigree runs deep.
Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson—son of 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 founded by Chris Roberts before his transition to the Star Citizen universe.
Abbott also produced films such as Fight for ’84, starring Jamie Foxx. This blend of cinematic experience and entrepreneurial grit informs the studio’s storytelling approach. Join Us began as a hobby project in Unreal Engine. "I discovered Unreal was free to download and, despite having no formal training, I started learning from YouTube tutorials," Dietsch explains.
He quickly built a few modest prototypes before committing to a larger vision: a doomsday cult simulator that fuses survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics. The initial proof‑of‑concept was handed to Abbott, who then presented it to Dooma, a partner that helped shape the early development roadmap. Dooma Wendschuh, Wolf Haus’s CFO and narrative director, entered the picture after a varied career that spanned film production, screenwriting, and video‑game narrative work on titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins.
He later founded several tech ventures, most notably the cannabis formulation company Ebbu, which sold for roughly C$430 million. After selling Ebbu, Wendschuh bought a remote island restaurant in Canada, intending to retire. Yet a chance call from his old Hollywood‑hills roommate, Michael Abbott, pulled him back into the industry. "I watched the demo Joe had built, and it blew my mind.
It convinced me to leave retirement and join the project," Wendschuh says. Through Wendschuh’s network, the studio recruited Reid Schneider—formerly a vice president at Warner Bros.
Games and now head of Raccoon Logic—and Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, a former Ubisoft Montreal programmer who became chief technology officer. Their combined expertise helped the studio navigate a difficult funding climate in 2023‑2024, marked by an industry downturn and skeptical investors. After aligning with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and leveraging contacts such as Derek Douglas, a veteran agent who had represented Wendschuh during his earlier gaming years, Wolf Haus finally closed a seed round with Lifelike Capital and Krafton. What truly sets Join Us apart is the way it is being built: a full‑scale, open‑world game developed by just thirteen full‑time staff members.
Dietsch emphasizes that the team deliberately kept its size small to preserve a collaborative atmosphere where every voice matters. To make such an ambitious project feasible, the studio invested heavily in custom tooling from day one. "Any system we create must be scalable and debuggable by a single person," Dietsch notes. The first year of development was split between ideating gameplay features and constructing the internal toolchain that would allow those features to scale across a six‑kilometre‑square map without collapsing under their own complexity.
The equity funding model gave Wolf Haus the breathing room to perfect these tools. "Krafton and Lifelike’s investment is used to self‑fund the game," says Wendschuh.
"We’re now only taking on a modest amount of project finance for marketing, but the core development has been covered by our equity partners." This structure aligns the investors’ interests with the studio’s long‑term vision: building reusable tools that can serve future projects as well as Join Us. When asked about generative AI—a hot topic in game development—both Dietsch and Wendschuh were unequivocal: the studio does not employ AI for any creative tasks.
"We believe a human touch is essential. Using an AI to generate assets would defeat the purpose of why we get up every morning," Dietsch asserts.
Wendschuh adds that the only AI they use is for mundane administrative chores like calendar management and email drafting. Interestingly, Krafton, which markets itself as an "AI‑first" company, explicitly required Wolf Haus to avoid generative AI in the creative pipeline, mirroring a similar stance taken by Krafton‑owned Neon Giant. The commitment to handcrafted content extends to the game’s world and audio. The six‑kilometre‑square island is entirely hand‑modeled, and the 15,000 voice lines are performed by human actors, not synthetic voices.
Dietsch stresses that this decision was vital for maintaining the game’s tonal authenticity, even as a modest indie title. Dietsch also reflects on the contrast between filmmaking and game development. In film, an idea can take years to materialize, subject to the approval of studios, directors, and actors.
In games, an inspiration can be prototyped within hours, allowing immediate iteration. "You can have an idea at breakfast and see it in the engine by lunch," he says, highlighting the immediacy that fuels his passion.
Wendschuh points out that while film production is front‑loaded with high‑stakes negotiations and talent acquisition, video games have fewer gatekeepers. "Anyone can rent a camera and shoot a backyard movie, but without big names or distribution, success is rare. In games, the barrier to entry is lower, and a small, dedicated team can reach a wide audience without A‑list talent," he explains. Both founders agree that the core creative impulse—telling stories and delivering experiences—remains the same across mediums.
"Whether it’s a movie or a game, you’re crafting an experience, telling a story, and engaging the audience. The tools have changed, but the heart of the work stays constant," Dietsch concludes. Join Us therefore represents more than just a quirky cult simulator; it stands as a testament to what a tightly knit, technically proficient team can achieve when they blend Hollywood storytelling sensibilities with indie‑game resourcefulness—without leaning on generative AI to shortcut the creative process.