The trailer for Join Us first appeared during the Xbox Showcase in June, offering a glimpse of a darkly humorous cooperative cult simulator. In the clip, robed followers charge on pig‑back while brandishing machine guns, culminating in a dramatic shot of colossal, Cthulhu‑like tentacles.
What didn’t make it to the public preview was the infamous "snake gun," a weapon that originated from an off‑hand suggestion by a team member’s child. Joe Dietsch, the chief executive officer and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, recounts the moment: “A kid asked if we could make a gun that shoots snakes. Because we had a modular weapon system, I was able to prototype one in roughly thirty minutes. The kid was thrilled, and the snake gun stayed in the final build.” That anecdote perfectly captures the chaotic, sandbox‑style gameplay that Join Us promises.
Players will inhabit a 1970s‑inspired cult, recruiting both AI followers and friends in co‑op mode to expand their influence across a sprawling open world. Yet the game’s ambition is matched by an equally bold development philosophy: build a high‑fidelity, content‑rich experience with a team that is tiny by industry standards. Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, summed up the mission: “We set out to be disruptors.
While everyone assumed you needed a hundred‑person studio to pull this off, we believed twelve could do the job.” The team’s confidence stems from a history of punching far above their weight. Many of the founders cut their teeth on independent film projects, where limited budgets forced creative problem‑solving. “We come from indie cinema, where you learn to stretch every dollar,” Abbott explains. After a grueling 80‑pitch marathon, the studio finally secured equity investment from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, giving them the financial runway to continue development without resorting to massive headcounts.
Wolf Haus’s leadership is steeped in Hollywood pedigree. Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson, the son of Mel Gibson, and the two later co‑wrote and co‑directed the low‑budget features Happy Hunting and Manifest West. Abbott is the son of renowned makeup artist Larry Abbott and helped launch Ascendant Pictures, the production company founded by Chris Roberts before his Star Citizen venture. He later produced titles such as Fight for ’84, starring Jamie Foxx.
This blend of cinematic storytelling and production savvy informs Join Us’s narrative tone, which leans heavily into grindhouse aesthetics and doomsday cult tropes. The seed of Join Us was planted when Dietsch began experimenting with Unreal Engine after discovering it was freely downloadable. “I’d loved games my whole life, but the barrier to actually creating something felt huge,” he says. He taught himself the engine through YouTube tutorials, built a few modest prototypes, and eventually settled on a doomsday cult simulator that merged his passions for survival mechanics and exploitation cinema.
The initial proof‑of‑concept was rough but functional, and when he showed it to Abbott, the latter recognized its potential and took it to Dooma, a publishing partner. Dooma Wendschuh, Wolf Haus’s chief financial officer and narrative director, brings a uniquely eclectic résumé.
He began as a film producer and screenwriter before transitioning to games in the early 2000s, founding Sekretagent Productions, which supplied narrative work for titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins. Later, he founded several tech ventures, most notably the cannabis formulation company Ebbu, which sold for roughly C$430 million (US$330 million).
After a brief retirement on a remote Canadian island, a call from his old Hollywood‑hillroommate Michael Abbott pulled him back into the industry. Impressed by Dietsch’s demo, Wendschuh joined the effort, recruiting former Warner Bros.
Games VP Reid Schneider as a strategic advisor and Ubisoft Montreal veteran Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand as chief technology officer. Funding proved to be the next hurdle. The studio began pitching in the summer of 2023, a period marked by an industry downturn that made investors cautious.
Initial reactions were positive—"this looks cool"—but securing capital required persistence. After aligning with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in Los Angeles and re‑pitching throughout 2024, Wolf Haus finally closed a seed round with Lifelike Capital and Krafton. Wendschuh credits the CAA connection, noting that Derek Douglas, his long‑time agent, had previously overseen his video‑game career and helped open doors to seasoned advisors.
Despite the high‑profile backing, the development team remains intentionally lean: only thirteen full‑time staff members. Dietsch emphasizes that this small‑team model fosters a collaborative environment where every employee can influence design decisions.
To make such an ambitious project feasible, the studio invested heavily in custom tooling from day one. "Any system we build must be scalable and debuggable by a single person," he explains. The first year of development was therefore split between ideating gameplay features and engineering the internal tools that would keep the open‑world map from collapsing under its own weight.
The equity‑funded structure gave Wolf Haus the luxury of time to perfect these tools. Krafton and Lifelike’s capital was earmarked for development rather than immediate profit, allowing the studio to self‑fund the game while only seeking additional project finance for marketing later on. This model aligns investor incentives with the studio’s long‑term goal of increasing enterprise value, encouraging the creation of reusable tools that can serve future titles. A notable aspect of Wolf Haus’s workflow is its deliberate avoidance of generative AI in the creative pipeline.
While many studios tout AI‑assisted asset generation, Dietsch insists that the human touch is essential. "We don’t use generative AI for design or art," he says. "We have a few subscriptions for mundane tasks like calendar management, but the core creative work—level design, narrative, voice acting—is all handcrafted." Even Krafton, which publicly positioned itself as an "AI‑first" company, required assurances that Wolf Haus would not rely on AI for content creation. This stance mirrors that of Neon Giant, another Krafton‑owned studio that publicly distanced itself from the publisher’s AI pivot.
The commitment to human‑made content extends to the game’s massive six‑kilometre‑square map and its 15,000 voice lines, all recorded by real actors. Dietsch believes that preserving authentic performances is vital, especially for an indie title that aims to stand out through personality rather than procedural shortcuts. Transitioning from film to games also gave Dietsch a fresh perspective on creative immediacy. In cinema, an idea can take years to materialize, requiring approvals, casting, and extensive production schedules.
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," he enthuses. Wendschuh adds that film production is heavily front‑loaded, with intense pre‑shoot logistics and the need for A‑list talent to secure financing. While anyone can shoot a low‑budget movie with a backyard camera, breaking through without star power is rare. Games, however, have a lower barrier to entry, allowing small teams to reach global audiences without celebrity endorsements.
Both founders agree that the core creative impulse—telling a story and delivering an experience—remains the same across mediums. "Whether you’re making a movie or a game, you’re trying to engage an audience, convey emotion, and craft a memorable journey," Dietsch reflects, noting that his childhood fascination with both cameras and programming set him on this dual path.
In summary, Wolf Haus Games exemplifies how a small, Hollywood‑savvy team can leverage custom technology, strategic financing, and a steadfast commitment to handcrafted artistry to produce a large‑scale, high‑quality game without relying on generative AI. Their upcoming title, Join Us, promises a chaotic, satirical cult‑sim experience that showcases what can be achieved when a tight‑knit crew embraces both cinematic storytelling and cutting‑edge game development tools.