You may remember that the trailer for Join Us debuted during the Xbox Showcase in June, offering a glimpse of a darkly humorous co‑op cult simulator. The teaser showed robed cultists riding on pigs, firing machine guns, and culminated in a shot of colossal, Cthulhu‑like tentacles. What didn’t appear in that clip was the infamous snake gun, a feature that Joe Dietsch, the CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, says was inspired by a child’s off‑hand question. "One of the team members’ kids asked, ‘What would a snake‑gun look like?’" Dietsch recalls.
"Because we had a modular weapon system, I could prototype a snake‑shooting gun in about thirty minutes. The kid went nuts, and the weapon stayed in the final build." That anecdote captures the chaotic, over‑the‑top gameplay that Join Us promises: an open‑world sandbox survival experience where players can recruit followers—or invite friends in co‑op—to join a 1970s‑style cult. It also illustrates the studio’s technology‑first mindset, which has allowed a small crew to produce a high‑fidelity title that would normally require a far larger staff.
Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, summed up their ambition: "We set out to be disruptors. We told everyone we could build this game with a dozen people, and they all laughed." The team’s confidence stems from a background in indie filmmaking, where they learned to achieve cinematic results on shoestring budgets. "We come from indie film circles and we’re used to punching well above our weight," Abbott explains.
After 80 pitches, Wolf Haus finally secured equity funding from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, both of which took stakes in the studio. The founders’ Hollywood pedigree runs deep.
Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson, son of Mel Gibson, who later co‑founded Wolf Haus and 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. Abbott later produced movies such as Fight for ’84 starring Jamie Foxx. Join Us originated from Dietsch’s experiments in Unreal Engine.
"I discovered Unreal was free to download and started tinkering after watching countless YouTube tutorials," he says. Though he had never built a commercial game before, he managed a few small prototypes before committing to a larger vision: a doomsday cult simulator that fused survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics.
He built a proof‑of‑concept demo, ran into technical roadblocks, and showed the result to Abbott, who then introduced the project to Dooma. Dooma Wendschuh, Wolf Haus’s CFO and narrative director, began his career as a film producer and screenwriter before moving into games in the early 2000s.
He founded Sekretagent Productions, providing narrative work for titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins. Later, he launched several tech ventures, including the cannabis formulation company Ebbu, which sold for roughly C$430 million.
After a brief retirement on a remote Canadian island, a call from his old Hollywood‑hill roommate Michael Abbott pulled him back into the industry. Impressed by Dietsch’s demo, Wendschuh helped bring on strategic advisor Reid Schneider—formerly a VP at Warner Bros.
Games—and CTO Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, an ex‑Ubisoft Montreal programmer. Funding proved challenging amid a market downturn. The studio began pitching in summer 2023, initially receiving positive reactions but little capital. After partnering with CAA in Los Angeles and refining their pitch, they secured seed investment from Lifelike Capital and Krafton in 2024.
Wendschuh credits the CAA connection and the presence of seasoned veterans like Schneider and Chartrand for opening doors. Despite the high aspirations, Join Us is being built by just 13 full‑time staff members. "We entered the project with a clear idea of scope and a desire to keep the team small, so every voice matters and everyone can touch the creative process," says Dietsch.
To make such an ambitious open‑world possible, the studio invested heavily in custom tooling from day one. "Any system we create must be scalable and debuggable by a single person," Dietsch explains. "We spent the first year simultaneously designing gameplay and building the internal tools that let us expand the world without it collapsing under its own weight." The equity funding model gave Wolf Haus the runway to perfect those tools.
"Krafton and Lifelike’s capital funded the entire development, making the game essentially self‑funded," Wendschuh notes. "We’re now adding a modest project‑finance component for marketing, but the core development was covered by our investors." When asked about generative AI, the team is unequivocal: they avoid it for creative work.
"We believe a game needs a human touch; handing the creative process over to an algorithm would defeat why we love making games," Dietsch says. Wendschuh adds that while they may use AI for administrative tasks like calendar management, none of it influences design, art, or writing.
Interestingly, Krafton—publicly branding itself as an "AI‑first" company—insisted that Wolf Haus not employ generative AI in the creative pipeline, mirroring a similar stance taken by Krafton‑owned Neon Giant. The commitment to handcrafted content extends to the game’s world and audio. The six‑kilometre‑square map was built entirely by hand, and the 15,000 voice lines were recorded by human actors, a point the team emphasizes as a badge of pride for an indie studio.
Dietsch reflects on the contrast between film and games: film is a long‑lead, permission‑driven medium where ideas can take years to materialize, whereas games allow instant iteration. "You can have an idea this morning, drop it into the engine, and see it in action within hours. That immediacy is exhilarating," he says.
Wendschuh adds that movies are front‑loaded with expensive talent and studio approvals, while games face fewer gatekeepers, making it easier for small teams to reach audiences without A‑list names. Both mediums, however, share a core creative impulse: storytelling and immersion. "When I was six, I wanted to make movies or games; it boiled down to a coin toss and a Christmas camera," Dietsch smiles. "Whether it’s a film or a game, you’re delivering an experience, telling a story, and engaging the audience.
The tools may differ, but the purpose remains the same."