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 firing machine guns, culminating in a shot of colossal, Cthulhu‑like tentacles.
What didn’t make it onto the screen was the infamous "snake gun," a weapon that originated from an off‑hand comment by a team member’s child. Joe Dietsch, the CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, recounts the moment: "His son asked if we could make a gun that shoots snakes.
Because our in‑house tool can scale a weapon in minutes, I built a snake‑shooter in about half an hour. He was blown away, and the weapon stayed in the final game." This anecdote captures the chaotic, over‑the‑top gameplay that Join Us promises – an open‑world sandbox where players can recruit followers or invite friends into a 1970s‑style cult, all while wielding absurd weaponry. The development philosophy behind the title is equally unorthodox. Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, says the studio set out to be "disruptors" by proving that a high‑fidelity, large‑scale game can be built by a tiny crew.
"We told everyone we could do it with twelve people. Most people laughed and said it was impossible," Abbott explains.
Their confidence stems from a history of punching far above their weight in indie film, where small budgets often forced creative problem‑solving. After 80 pitches, the team finally secured equity funding from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, allowing them to move forward without the massive headcount typical of AAA studios.
Wolf Haus’s leadership team is steeped in Hollywood pedigree. Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson, son of Mel Gibson, who later co‑founded 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 he turned his attention 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 experimenting with Unreal Engine, attracted by its free download model. "I’d been a gamer my whole life, but creating something felt out of reach.
Unreal was the gateway," he says. Teaching himself through YouTube tutorials, he built a few modest prototypes before deciding to tackle something bigger: a doomsday cult simulator that fused survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics.
He crafted a proof‑of‑concept demo, showing it to Abbott, who then presented it to Dooma, a partner studio that helped refine the vision. Dooma Wendschuh, Wolf Haus’s chief financial officer and narrative director, brings a unique blend of film and tech experience. After a career as a producer and screenwriter, he founded Sekretagent Productions, providing narrative work for titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins. He later sold a cannabis‑formulation company, Ebbu, for roughly C$430 million.
Though he briefly retired to a remote Canadian island, a call from his old Hollywood‑hill roommate Michael Abbott pulled him back into game development. Impressed by Dietsch’s demo, Wendschuh recruited former Warner Bros. Games VP Reid Schneider as a strategic advisor and hired Ubisoft veteran Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand as chief technology officer.
Securing financing proved challenging amid a broader industry downturn. The team began pitching in summer 2023, receiving positive reactions but facing a cautious market. After aligning with CAA (Creative Artists Agency) and re‑pitching in 2024, they closed a seed round with Lifelike Capital and Krafton. Wendschuh credits CAA’s representation—also handling titles like 007: First Light—and the presence of seasoned veterans for opening doors.
Despite the high ambitions, the studio remains lean, employing only thirteen full‑time staff members. Dietsch emphasizes that the small size is intentional: "We wanted everyone to have a voice, to touch the creative process, and to feel ownership of the final product." To make such a scope feasible, the team invested heavily in custom tooling early on.
"Any system we build must be scalable and debuggable by a single person," Dietsch explains. The first year of development was split between ideating gameplay and constructing the internal tools that would later enable the open‑world map to expand without collapsing under its own weight. The equity funding model gave Wolf Haus the runway to perfect these tools.
Krafton and Lifelike’s investments were used to self‑fund the game’s development, with only a modest amount of project finance earmarked for marketing. This structure aligns investor incentives with the studio’s ethos: building reusable tools that solve problems as they arise, even if it slows short‑term progress. "When we hit a roadblock, we simply build a tool to overcome it," Wendschuh notes, highlighting the studio’s commitment to craftsmanship over shortcuts.
In an era where many studios lean on generative AI to accelerate asset creation, Wolf Haus deliberately avoids it for creative work. Dietsch states flatly, "We don’t use generative AI in the game’s development. The human touch is essential to us." Wendschuh adds that the studio only employs AI for mundane tasks like calendar management and email drafting. Interestingly, Krafton, which markets itself as an "AI‑first" company, insisted that Wolf Haus not incorporate generative AI into its pipeline, mirroring a broader industry hesitation to let AI replace artistic labor.
The commitment to hand‑crafted content is evident in the game’s scale: a six‑kilometre‑square map built entirely by hand, and 15,000 voice lines recorded by professional actors. Dietsch believes this human‑centric approach preserves the soul of the experience, especially for an indie title that aspires to compete with larger productions. Comparing film and games, Dietsch finds games offer immediacy that film lacks. In cinema, a concept can take years to materialise, requiring green‑lights, cast contracts, and massive logistical coordination.
In contrast, a game idea can be prototyped in a single morning, allowing creators to see and iterate on their vision instantly. Wendschuh observes that film production is heavily front‑loaded, with a small number of high‑profile talent often needed to secure financing. Games, however, have fewer gatekeepers; a small team can launch a successful product without A‑list names.
Both mediums, though, share a core purpose: delivering an experience, telling a story, and engaging an audience. Dietsch reflects on his childhood, noting that whether he pursued movies or games was a matter of chance—a camera for Christmas versus a TI‑83 calculator for programming.
Today, his career straddles both worlds, and Join Us stands as a testament to what can be achieved when Hollywood storytelling sensibilities meet indie‑game agility, all without relying on generative AI.