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, fire machine guns, and eventually confront Cthulhu‑like tentacles. One of the most memorable, yet unseen, moments was the appearance of a "snake gun," a quirky weapon that originated from a simple suggestion by a team member's child. As Joe Dietsch, CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, recounts, "The kid asked if we could make a snake‑shooting gun.
Because we had a modular weapon system, I was able to prototype it in about half an hour. It blew his mind, and it stayed in the final game." This anecdote captures the chaotic, improvisational spirit that defines Join Us, an open‑world sandbox survival game where players can recruit followers—or other players in co‑op mode—to build a 1970s‑style cult.
The development philosophy behind Join Us is equally unconventional. Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, explains that the studio set out to be "disruptors" by proving that a high‑fidelity, large‑scale title could be built by a team of just twelve developers. "Everyone told us it was impossible," Abbott says, "but we came from indie film backgrounds where we constantly had to punch far above our weight." After 80 pitches, the studio finally secured equity investment from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, giving them the financial runway to continue. Wolf Haus’s leadership team is steeped in Hollywood pedigree.
Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson, son of Mel Gibson, who co‑founded the studio and co‑wrote and co‑directed the indie films Happy Hunting and Manifest West. Abbott is the son of veteran makeup artist Larry Abbott and helped launch Ascendant Pictures, a 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 blend of cinematic experience and entrepreneurial grit informs the studio’s approach to game design. The seed of Join Us was planted when Dietsch began tinkering with Unreal Engine, attracted by its free availability. "I’d always loved games, but creating one felt like a huge barrier," he says.
By learning from YouTube tutorials, he built a few small prototypes before committing to a larger vision: a doomsday cult simulator that merges survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics. He crafted a proof‑of‑concept demo and showed it to Abbott, who then introduced the project to Dooma, a partner studio. Key to the studio’s growth was the involvement of Dooma’s CFO and narrative director, Dooma Wendschuh. Wendschuh began his career as a film producer and screenwriter before transitioning to games in the early 2000s, contributing writing to 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 a brief retirement on a remote Canadian island, a call from his old Hollywood roommate, Michael Abbott, pulled him back into development. Impressed by Dietsch’s demo, Wendschuh helped secure strategic advice from former Warner Bros.
Games VP Reid Schneider and recruited former Ubisoft Montreal programmer Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand as chief technology officer. Funding proved challenging amid an industry downturn in 2023. The team’s early pitches generated interest but also skepticism.
After partnering with CAA in Los Angeles and refining their pitch, they finally closed a seed round with Lifelike Capital and Krafton in 2024. Wendschuh notes that CAA’s representation, which also handles titles like 007: First Light, and the presence of seasoned veterans like Schneider and Chartrand, were instrumental in winning investor confidence. Despite the modest headcount—13 full‑time staff members—the studio maintains a collaborative culture where every voice influences the creative direction.
To make such an ambitious project feasible, Wolf Haus invested heavily in internal tooling from the outset. "Any system in the game must be scalable and debuggable by a single person," explains Dietsch. The first year of development was split between ideating gameplay and building the underlying tools, ensuring that as features expanded across the open world, the project wouldn’t collapse under its own weight.
The equity funding model gave Wolf Haus the luxury of time to perfect these tools. Krafton and Lifelike’s investment was used to self‑fund the game’s development, with only a modest amount of project finance earmarked for marketing. This arrangement aligns investor incentives with the studio’s long‑term value creation, encouraging the team to continue building robust, reusable tools even if it slows short‑term progress.
When asked about the role of generative AI, Dietsch is unequivocal: the studio does not employ it in the creative process. "We believe a human touch is essential for game development," he says.
Wendschuh adds that while they may use AI for mundane tasks like calendar management, it never touches design, art, or writing. Interestingly, Krafton, which has branded itself as an "AI‑first" company, explicitly required Wolf Haus to avoid generative AI in creative work, mirroring a similar stance taken by Krafton‑owned Neon Giant. The commitment to handcrafted content is evident in Join Us’s six‑kilometre‑square map, which was built entirely by hand, and its 15,000 voice lines, all recorded by human actors. Dietsch stresses that even as an indie studio, preserving that human element was non‑negotiable.
He also highlights the immediacy of game development compared with film. In cinema, an idea can take years to materialise, requiring extensive approvals and star power.
In games, an idea can be prototyped in a single morning, tested in the engine, and iterated upon instantly—a freedom he finds exhilarating. Wendschuh observes that film production is heavily front‑loaded, with intense, high‑stakes set work and a reliance on a few high‑profile talent to secure studio backing. While anyone can technically shoot a movie with a modest camera, breaking through without marquee names is rare.
By contrast, the game industry has fewer gatekeepers, making it more accessible for small teams to achieve success without A‑list actors or directors. Both Dietsch and Wendschuh agree that whether creating movies or games, the core ambition remains the same: to craft an experience, tell a story, and engage an audience.
For Dietsch, the path was a literal coin toss in childhood—choosing between a camera or a game console—and his lifelong love of programming on a TI‑83 calculator set the stage for a career that bridges both mediums. Join Us stands as a testament to that hybrid vision, proving that a small, dedicated team can deliver a sprawling, high‑quality game without relying on generative AI, but instead on ingenuity, bespoke tools, and a deep respect for handcrafted artistry.