The trailer for Join Us first caught gamers' attention during the Xbox Showcase in June, offering a glimpse of a darkly humorous co‑op cult simulator where robed followers ride pigs, unleash machine‑gun fire, and confront massive, Cthulhu‑like tentacles. One of the most memorable—and unexpected—moments in that preview was the appearance of a snake‑shooting weapon, a feature that, according to Wolf Haus Games’ CEO and creative director Joe Dietsch, was born out of pure kid‑logic. "My team member’s son asked if we could make a snake gun," Dietsch recounted.
"We had built a modular weapon system that lets us prototype new guns in minutes, so I threw together a snake‑shooter in about half an hour. The kid went nuts, and we kept it in the final build." That anecdote encapsulates the chaotic, experimental spirit that defines Join Us.
The game is an open‑world sandbox survival experience set in a 1970s‑style cult, where players can recruit AI followers or invite friends into the fold. Yet beyond the wacky gameplay lies a disciplined, technology‑first philosophy that has allowed Wolf Haus to produce a high‑fidelity title with a remarkably small crew. Michael Abbott, the studio’s chief operating officer, summed up their ambition: "We wanted to be disruptors.
We told ourselves we could build a AAA‑level experience with just a dozen people. Everyone else thought we were crazy." The team’s confidence stems from a background in indie filmmaking, where doing more with less is a daily reality.
"We grew up on low‑budget movies and learned to punch well above our weight," Abbott said. After 80 pitch meetings, Wolf Haus finally secured equity financing from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, both of which took stakes in the studio.
Wolf Haus’ leadership team is steeped in Hollywood history. Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson, son of actor‑director Mel Gibson, and together they 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 Star Citizen days. Abbott later produced films such as Fight for ’84, starring Jamie Foxx.
The seed of Join Us sprouted when Dietsch began tinkering with Unreal Engine, which he discovered was free to download. "I’d been a gamer forever, but creating something felt like a massive barrier," he explained.
"I started learning Unreal from YouTube tutorials and built a few tiny prototypes." Even without prior development experience, Dietsch managed to ship a couple of small games before deciding to tackle something larger. The concept that kept pulling him back was a doomsday‑cult simulator that merged survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics—a hybrid of his favorite film and game tropes.
He built a proof‑of‑concept prototype, assuming it would soon hit a technical wall. When he showed the demo to Abbott, the latter recognized its potential and introduced it to Dooma, a partner that helped shape the project’s early direction.
Dooma Wendschuh, Wolf Haus’ chief financial officer and narrative director, entered the picture after a varied career that spanned film production, screenwriting, and video‑game writing for titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins. In the 2010s he founded several tech ventures, most notably the cannabis formulation company Ebbu, which sold for roughly C$430 million (US$330 million). After cashing out, Wendschuh bought a remote island restaurant in Canada, intending to retire. Yet a call from his old Hollywood Hills roommate, Michael Abbott, lured him back into the industry.
"Joe’s demo blew my mind and pulled me out of retirement," Wendschuh said. Wendschuh then brought in Reid Schneider, a former Warner Bros. Games vice‑president now heading Raccoon Logic, to serve as strategic advisor. Schneider recruited Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, a former Ubisoft Montreal programmer, as chief technology officer.
With this core in place, the studio turned its focus to funding—a daunting task given the industry’s downturn in 2023. After initial outreach, Wolf Haus enlisted the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) to represent them, returning to the pitch circuit in 2024 and eventually closing a seed round with Lifelike Capital and Krafton.
The partnership with CAA, which also represents titles like 007: First Light, proved pivotal. "My longtime agent Derek Douglas, who knows me from my twelve years in game development, helped open doors," Wendschuh noted.
"Having veteran advisors on board gave investors confidence despite our small headcount." Today, Wolf Haus operates with just 13 full‑time staff members. The studio’s philosophy is to keep the team tight, ensuring every voice is heard and every employee can touch both creative and technical aspects of the game.
To make such an ambitious project feasible, the first year of development was split between ideation and tool‑building. "Any system in the game must be scalable and debuggable by a single person," Dietsch explained. "We invested heavily in a custom toolkit so that when features spread across a six‑kilometre‑square open world, the engine doesn’t crumble." Funding from Kraftor and Lifelike allowed Wolf Haus to finance the entire development internally, with only a modest amount of project finance earmarked for marketing. "Because our investors hold equity, they’re motivated to see the studio’s value increase, which means they support our tool‑heavy approach," Wendschuh said.
"When we hit a problem we can’t solve, we build a tool. It may slow us down short‑term, but it enables a tiny team to achieve big results." In an era where many studios tout generative‑AI pipelines, Wolf Haus deliberately shuns the technology for creative work. "We don’t use generative AI in game development," Dietsch asserted.
"Our process relies on human craftsmanship; handing the creative decisions to an algorithm would defeat the purpose of why we love making games." Wendschuh added that the studio only employs AI for mundane tasks like calendar management and email drafting. "We have no AI‑generated assets, no AI‑written dialogue," he emphasized. This stance aligns with Krafton’s own policy; despite branding itself as an "AI‑first" company, Krafton insisted that Wolf Haus avoid generative AI in its creative pipeline, echoing similar statements from Neon Giant, another Krafton‑owned studio. The commitment to hand‑crafted content extends to the game’s massive map and voice work.
The six‑kilometre‑square world of Join Us was built entirely by hand, and the 15,000 lines of dialogue were recorded by human actors, not synthetic voices. "Even as a small indie, we felt it was crucial to preserve that human touch," Dietsch said. Transitioning from film to games also gave Dietsch a fresh perspective on immediacy.
In cinema, an idea can take years to materialise, requiring countless approvals before a director ever sees a set. In contrast, a game concept can be prototyped in a single morning and instantly visualised in the engine. "You can take an idea, drop it into Unreal, and see it live that same day," he explained, describing the exhilaration of rapid iteration.
Wendschuh noted that film production is heavily front‑loaded, with intense, short‑term bursts of activity on set, while games allow for more distributed, iterative development. "Anyone can shoot a backyard movie, but without star power or distribution, it rarely breaks out. Games have far fewer gatekeepers—no need for an A‑list actor or director to get greenlit." Both mediums, however, share a core creative impulse: storytelling and immersive experience. "When I was six, I wanted to make either movies or games—it boiled down to a coin toss and whether I got a camera for Christmas," Dietsch recalled.
"I learned to program on a TI‑83, so I’ve always loved both. Whether it’s film or a game, you’re delivering an experience, telling a story, and engaging an audience. That fundamental goal never changes."