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 ride on pigs, unleash machine‑gun fire, and the scene culminates with a monstrous, Cthulhu‑like mass of tentacles. One detail that didn’t make the final cut was the infamous snake‑gun, a quirky weapon that Joe Dietsch, the chief executive officer and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, says was born from a child’s imagination.
"One of our team member’s son asked, ‘What would a snake‑gun look like?’ We had a rapid‑prototyping tool that let us spin up a new weapon in about thirty minutes, so I built a gun that actually fires snakes. The kid was blown away, and we kept it in the game," Dietsch recalls.
This anecdote captures the chaotic, over‑the‑top gameplay that Join Us promises: an open‑world sandbox where players can recruit followers—or friends in co‑op mode—to their 1970s‑style cult and unleash absurdist violence across a sprawling map. The development philosophy behind the title is equally unconventional. Michael Abbott, the chief operating officer, describes the studio’s ambition as a deliberate disruption of industry norms.
"We told ourselves we didn’t need a hundred‑person crew; twelve people could do the job. Everyone else thought we were crazy," he says. Their confidence stems from a background in low‑budget indie filmmaking, where punching above one’s weight is a daily requirement.
After 80 pitch meetings, Wolf Haus finally secured equity financing from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, both of which took stakes in the company. Wolf Haus’s leadership team is steeped in Hollywood pedigree. 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 outfit originally founded by Chris Roberts before he moved on to the Star Citizen universe.
Abbott later produced movies such as Fight for ’84 starring Jamie Foxx. Join Us originated from Dietsch’s experimentation with Unreal Engine. "I discovered Unreal was free to download and started tinkering after watching YouTube tutorials," he explains.
Although he had never built a game before, he managed to produce a few small prototypes before deciding to tackle something far more ambitious: a doomsday cult simulator that merged his love of survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics. The initial proof‑of‑concept was a rough, sandbox‑style demo that he shared with Abbott, who then introduced it to Dooma.
Dooma Wendschuh, the studio’s chief financial officer and narrative director, began his career as a film producer and screenwriter before transitioning to games in the early 2000s. He founded Sekretagent Productions, which supplied narrative work for titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins. Later, he entered the cannabis industry, creating the formulation company Ebbu, which sold for roughly C$430 million (US$330 million). After that windfall, he purchased a remote island restaurant in Canada, intending to retire.
Yet a phone call from his old Hollywood Hills roommate, Michael Abbott, pulled him back into development. "When I saw the demo, it blew my mind and convinced me to come out of retirement," Wendschuh says. Through Abbott’s network, the studio recruited Reid Schneider—former Warner Bros. Games vice‑president and now head of Raccoon Logic, the creators of Journey to the Savage Planet—as a strategic advisor.
Schneider also brought in Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, a veteran Ubisoft Montreal programmer, to serve as chief technology officer. By the summer of 2023 the team was fully formed, but securing financing proved difficult amid an industry downturn.
Initial outreach yielded interest but no commitments; after partnering with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and re‑pitching in 2024, Wolf Haus finally closed a seed round with Lifelike Capital and Krafton. The involvement of CAA—whose roster includes titles like 007: First Light—proved crucial, as did the credibility of industry veterans Schneider and Chartrand. "My agent at CAA, Derek Douglas, had represented me for twelve years in games and previously led the video‑game department at William Morris," Wendschuh notes.
What truly sets Join Us apart is the scale of its ambition relative to the size of its team. With just thirteen full‑time staff members, Wolf Haus deliberately kept the development group small to preserve a collaborative culture where every voice matters.
Dietsch emphasizes that the team built extensive internal tools from the outset, ensuring that any system could be scaled, debugged, and maintained by a single developer if necessary. "The first year was spent simultaneously designing gameplay and engineering the toolset that would let us expand the world without the project collapsing under its own weight," he says. Funding from Krafton and Lifelike was structured as equity, allowing the studio to self‑finance the bulk of development while reserving a modest amount of project finance for marketing.
This model gave Wolf Haus the freedom to invest heavily in tooling, a core part of their ethos. Whenever a technical obstacle appeared, the team built a bespoke solution rather than outsourcing or cutting corners, even if it slowed short‑term progress. In an era where many studios tout generative AI as a productivity booster, Wolf Haus deliberately eschews the technology for creative tasks.
"We don’t use generative AI for any part of the game’s design or art," Dietsch asserts. "Our motivation is to keep a human touch throughout development." Wendschuh adds that the only AI tools they employ are mundane productivity assistants for calendar management and email drafting. Krafton, despite branding itself as an "AI‑first" company, also insisted that Wolf Haus avoid AI‑generated content, aligning with the studio’s philosophy that AI could jeopardize jobs for voice actors and artists.
Indeed, the six‑kilometre‑square map in Join Us is handcrafted, and the game features roughly 15,000 voice lines recorded by real actors—a considerable undertaking for a small indie studio. Dietsch believes this dedication to hand‑crafted content enhances immersion and respects the craft of performance.
Transitioning from film to games has given Dietsch a sense of immediacy that he found lacking in cinema. In movies, an idea can take years to materialise, requiring countless approvals before it ever reaches a set. In game development, however, an inspiration can be prototyped in a matter of hours, allowing creators to see their concepts live almost instantly. Wendschuh points out that film production is heavily front‑loaded: securing A‑list talent and studio backing is often the biggest hurdle, whereas games face fewer gatekeepers.
"You don’t need a famous director or star to get a game funded; a compelling prototype and a solid team can be enough," he explains. Both mediums, though, share a common creative drive: the desire to tell stories and craft experiences that resonate with audiences.
Dietsch reflects on his childhood, recalling how a coin toss determined whether he would pursue games or movies, and how early programming on a TI‑83 calculator sparked a lifelong passion. Whether through pixels or celluloid, he believes the core mission remains the same—delivering an engaging narrative that pulls people in. In summary, Wolf Haus’s Join Us exemplifies how a small, tightly knit team with Hollywood connections, savvy investors, and a commitment to handcrafted quality can produce a large‑scale, high‑fidelity game without relying on generative AI. Their story underscores the power of tool‑driven development, strategic funding, and a clear creative vision, proving that even in a market dominated by massive studios, a dozen passionate developers can still disrupt the status quo.