The trailer for Join Us first appeared during the Xbox Showcase in June, offering a glimpse of a darkly humorous cooperative cult simulation where robed followers charge on pigs, unleash machine‑guns, and the finale reveals colossal, Cthulhu‑like tentacles. What didn’t make the cut was the infamous snake‑gun, a quirky weapon that Joe Dietsch, the CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, says was inspired by a child’s off‑hand suggestion.
"One of the team members’ kids asked, ‘What would a snake‑gun look like?’" Dietsch recounts. "Because we built a modular gun system, I could prototype a snake‑shooter in about thirty minutes.
The kid was thrilled, and the weapon stayed in the final build." That anecdote captures the chaotic, improvisational spirit of Join Us, an open‑world sandbox survival game that lets players recruit followers—or invite friends in co‑op—to join a 1970s‑style cult. It also illustrates the studio’s technology‑first philosophy, which has allowed a tiny crew to produce a high‑fidelity title that would normally require a much larger staff. Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, summed it up: "We set out to be disruptors.
We told everyone, ‘We don’t need a hundred developers; twelve will do.’ Most people laughed, thinking it impossible." The founders’ background in low‑budget indie filmmaking gave them confidence. "We come from indie cinema and know how to punch far above our weight," Abbott says.
After 80 pitch meetings, they finally secured equity investment from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, both of which now hold stakes in Wolf Haus. The leadership team is steeped in Hollywood history. Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson, son of Mel Gibson, who 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 house founded by Chris Roberts before his transition to Star Citizen. Abbott later produced movies such as Fight for ’84 starring Jamie Foxx. Join Us originated from Dietsch’s experimentation with Unreal Engine. "Unreal was free to download, and I’d always loved games but felt there was a huge barrier to creating my own," he explains.
He taught himself through YouTube tutorials, built a few small prototypes, and eventually settled on a doomsday cult simulator that merged survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics. He created a proof‑of‑concept demo, showed it to Abbott, and the duo took it to Dooma, the company that would later become Wolf Haus.
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 firm Ebbu, which sold for C$430 million. After selling Ebbu, Wendschuh bought a remote island restaurant in Canada, intending to retire.
A call from his old Hollywood‑hill roommate, Michael Abbott, changed those plans. "I saw the demo Joe had built and it blew my mind, pulling me back from retirement," he says. Wendschuh introduced the project to Reid Schneider, former Warner Bros.
Games VP and now head of Raccoon Logic, who became a strategic advisor and recruited Ubisoft Montreal veteran Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand as chief technology officer. With the core team assembled, the next hurdle was funding, which proved difficult during the industry downturn of 2023‑24.
After initial outreach, the studio signed with CAA in Los Angeles, re‑pitched in 2024, and eventually closed a seed round with Lifelike Capital and Krafton. The CAA connection—also representing titles like 007: First Light—combined with veteran advisors to give the studio credibility. "Derek Douglas, our CAA agent, had represented me for twelve years in games and previously headed the video‑game department at William Morris," Wendschuh notes. Despite the heavyweight résumé, Join Us is being built by just 13 full‑time staff.
Dietsch emphasizes that the small‑team model was intentional: "We wanted everyone to have a voice, to touch the creative process, and to feel ownership of the final product." To make such an ambitious open‑world feasible, the studio invested heavily in custom tooling from day one. "Every system must be scalable and debuggable by a single person," Dietsch explains. The first year was spent simultaneously designing gameplay and engineering the tools that would keep the project from collapsing under its own weight.
The equity funding from Krafton and Lifelike allowed the team to develop those tools without external pressure. "The money they invested finances the game itself, making it essentially self‑funded," says Wendschuh. "We’re now only taking on a modest amount of project finance for marketing, but development has been covered by our investors." Both investors encourage the studio’s tool‑centric ethos because it raises the studio’s enterprise value.
Whenever a problem arises, the team builds a bespoke solution, even if it slows immediate progress. This philosophy stands in stark contrast to the growing trend of using generative AI in game development.
When asked about AI, Dietsch is unequivocal: "We don’t use generative AI for creative work. The human touch is essential to why we get up each morning." Wendschuh adds, "We have a few AI subscriptions for scheduling and email, but none of it touches the game’s design or art." Krafton, which has branded itself as an "AI‑first" company, actually required Wolf Haus to avoid AI in the creative pipeline as a condition of their investment. This mirrors Krafton‑owned Neon Giant’s public statement that it does not employ generative AI for its projects.
The studio is also committed to preserving jobs for voice actors and artists. "We don’t want AI to replace human talent," Wendschuh says. The six‑kilometre‑square map in Join Us is hand‑crafted, and the game features 15,000 voice lines recorded by real performers.
Dietsch highlights a key advantage of games over film: immediacy. In cinema, an idea can take years to materialise, requiring studio approvals, casting, and lengthy production schedules.
In contrast, a game concept can be prototyped in a single morning and instantly visualised in the engine. This rapid feedback loop fuels the studio’s creative energy. Wendschuh points out that film production is front‑loaded with high‑stakes negotiations for a handful of A‑list talent, whereas games have far fewer gatekeepers. "You don’t need a star actor or director to greenlight a game," he observes.
"That lower barrier makes indie success more attainable." Both founders agree that whether you’re making movies or games, the core mission is the same: to craft an experience, tell a story, and engage an audience. Dietsch reflects, "When I was six, I wanted to make either movies or games.
It came down to a coin toss and a camera for Christmas. I learned programming on a TI‑83, so I’ve always loved both mediums. The goal—telling stories and immersing people—remains unchanged."