The buzz around Join Us first erupted when its trailer appeared in the Xbox Showcase back in June, offering a glimpse of a darkly humorous cooperative cult simulation. The teaser showed robed followers careening on pigs, wielding machine guns, and culminating in a nightmarish vision of Cthulhu‑like tentacles. Yet, one of the most memorable moments—the snake‑shooting weapon—never made it to the final cut of the showcase. According to Joe Dietsch, the CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, the snake gun was born from a simple request.
“One of the team members’ kids asked, ‘What would a snake gun look like?’ We had a modular gun system that let us prototype a weapon in about thirty minutes, so I built one that fires snakes on the fly. It blew his mind, and it stayed in the game.” That anecdote captures the chaotic, over‑the‑top gameplay that Join Us promises: an open‑world sandbox where players can recruit followers—or invite friends in co‑op mode—to build a 1970s‑style cult empire.
It also highlights the studio’s technology‑first mindset, which has allowed a tiny crew to develop a high‑fidelity, large‑scale title. Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, summed up their ambition: “We wanted to be disruptors.
We told everyone we could build a AAA‑ish experience with just twelve people, and they laughed.” The team’s confidence wasn’t unfounded. Their background in independent filmmaking taught them to stretch modest budgets far beyond what the numbers would suggest. “We come from indie film,” Abbott explained, “so we’re used to punching well above our weight.” After 80 pitches, the studio finally secured equity investment from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, giving them the financial runway to continue development. Wolf Haus’s leadership is steeped in Hollywood history.
Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson—son of Mel Gibson—who now co‑founder of the studio. 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 shift to Star Citizen.
He later produced movies such as Fight for ’84, starring Jamie Foxx. The genesis of Join Us traces back to Dietsch tinkering with Unreal Engine. “Unreal was free to download, and I’d always loved games, but the barrier to actually creating something felt huge,” he recalled.
He taught himself through YouTube tutorials, built a few small prototypes, and eventually settled on a doomsday‑cult simulation that merged his love for survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics. He created a proof‑of‑concept, showed it to Abbott, and the idea quickly gained momentum. The studio’s narrative director and CFO, Dooma Wendschuh, arrived from a film‑writing career that transitioned into video‑game writing in the early 2000s.
He founded Sekretagent Productions, providing story services for titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins. Later, he launched several tech ventures, most notably the cannabis‑formulation company Ebbu, which sold for roughly C$430 million (US$330 million). After selling his businesses, Wendschuh bought a remote island restaurant in Canada, intending to retire.
A sudden call from his old Hollywood‑hill roommate, Michael Abbott, pulled him back into game development after he saw a demo that “blew his mind.” Wendschuh then recruited Reid Schneider—former Warner Bros Games VP and current head of Raccoon Logic, the makers of Journey to the Savage Planet—as a strategic advisor, and brought on Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, a former Ubisoft Montreal programmer, as chief technology officer. With the core team in place, they turned to fundraising during a market downturn in 2023. Despite the bleak climate, the studio’s compelling pitch and CAA representation eventually earned them seed funding from Lifelike Capital and Krafton.
The partnership with CAA, which also represents titles like 007: First Light, proved pivotal. “Derek Douglas, our CAA agent, had represented me for twelve years in games and previously headed the video‑game department at William Morris,” Wendschuh noted, underscoring how industry connections smoothed the path. What truly sets Join Us apart is the way it’s being built: a 13‑person full‑time team that maintains a “small‑team atmosphere” where every member contributes creatively.
Dietsch emphasized that early‑stage tool development was essential. “If a system exists in the game, it must be scalable and debuggable by a single person,” he said.
The studio invested heavily in internal tooling during the first year, allowing the game’s open‑world features to expand without collapsing under its own complexity. This tool‑centric approach also serves future projects, creating a reusable foundation for the studio’s pipeline.
Funding from Krafton and Lifelike has been structured as equity, meaning the investors share in the studio’s eventual enterprise value. This model gave Wolf Haus the freedom to prioritize tool‑building over short‑term deadlines. “Whenever we hit a problem we don’t know how to solve, we simply build a tool,” Wendschuh explained.
“It may slow us down a bit, but it enables a tiny team to produce something of this scale.” In an industry where many small studios are turning to generative AI to fill creative gaps, Wolf Haus deliberately avoids it. Dietsch stated plainly, “We don’t use any generative AI in the creative process.
The human touch is essential to us.” Wendschuh added that the only AI tools they employ are mundane productivity aids like calendar scheduling and email drafting. Interestingly, Krafton—positioning itself as an “AI‑first” company—insisted that Wolf Haus not incorporate generative AI into its development pipeline, aligning with the studio’s philosophy of preserving human‑crafted artistry. The commitment to hand‑crafted content is evident throughout Join Us.
The six‑kilometre‑square map is entirely built by hand, and the game features roughly 15,000 voice lines recorded by professional actors, not AI‑generated voices. Dietsch believes this authenticity is crucial, even for an indie‑scale project. Transitioning from film to games also gave Dietsch a newfound appreciation for immediacy.
In cinema, an idea can take years to materialise, requiring approvals and massive coordination. In contrast, a game concept can be prototyped within hours: “You can have an idea in the morning, drop it into the engine, and see it instantly,” he said, describing the exhilarating feedback loop that games provide. Wendschuh contrasted the front‑loaded nature of film production—where securing a few high‑profile directors or actors is often a prerequisite for green‑lighting—with the relatively low barrier to entry in games. “Anyone can rent a camera and shoot a backyard movie, but without star power or distribution it’s unlikely to succeed,” he observed.
“In games, you don’t need an A‑list actor or director; the chances of success are far higher because gatekeepers are fewer.” Both founders agree that the core creative drive remains the same across mediums: delivering an experience, telling a story, and engaging an audience. Dietsch reflected on his childhood, recalling a coin‑toss decision between a camera and a game console that set his path. “Whether you’re making a movie or a game, you’re trying to give someone an experience and tell them a story.
The tools change, but the goal stays the same.” Join Us is now poised to launch as a uniquely crafted cult simulator, built by a lean team that leveraged Hollywood know‑how, cannabis‑industry capital, and bespoke technology—all while steadfastly rejecting generative AI in favour of human creativity. The project stands as a testament to what a small, focused group can achieve when they combine ambition with the right blend of talent, tools, and tenacity.