The trailer for Join Us first appeared during the Xbox Showcase in June, offering a glimpse of a darkly humorous co‑op cult simulator where robed followers ride pigs, fire machine guns, and eventually confront Cthulhu‑like tentacles. One of the most memorable, yet omitted, moments was the appearance of a "snake gun"—a weapon that literally fires serpents.
Joe Dietsch, the CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, explains that the idea came from a team member’s child who simply asked, “Can there be a snake gun?” Using an in‑house tool that allows rapid weapon prototyping, Dietsch was able to implement the bizarre firearm in roughly half an hour, delighting the youngster and cementing the weapon’s place in the final game. That anecdote encapsulates the chaotic, over‑the‑top gameplay that Join Us promises. The title is an open‑world sandbox survival experience set in a 1970s‑style cult, where players can recruit AI followers or invite friends to join their growing congregation.
The game’s design philosophy is equally unorthodox: a small, tech‑savvy team has managed to produce a high‑fidelity, large‑scale title with only a dozen full‑time developers. Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, describes the studio’s mission as “disruption.” He and his colleagues believed they could achieve what larger studios typically require—hundreds of staff and massive budgets—by leveraging clever tools and a lean workflow. "We told everyone, ‘We don’t need a hundred people; twelve is enough,’" Abbott recalls.
"People laughed, saying it was impossible. But we come from indie film backgrounds where we constantly punch far above our weight, so we knew it could work." After 80 pitches, the team finally secured equity investment from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, both of which took stakes in Wolf Haus and provided the seed funding needed to bring the project to life. The founders’ Hollywood pedigree runs deep.
Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson, son of Mel Gibson and fellow Wolf Haus co‑founder. Together they co‑wrote and co‑directed the indie features Happy Hunting and Manifest West. Abbott is the son of renowned makeup artist Larry Abbott and helped launch Ascendant Pictures, the production company originally founded by Chris Roberts before his shift to Star Citizen.
Abbott later produced films such as Fight for ’84 starring Jamie Foxx. This blend of cinematic experience and entrepreneurial grit has shaped Wolf Haus’s approach to storytelling and production. Join Us originated from Dietsch’s experimentation with Unreal Engine. "I discovered Unreal was free to download and started learning from YouTube tutorials," he says.
Despite having no formal game‑development background, he built a few small prototypes before deciding to tackle something larger—a doomsday cult simulator that merged his love of survival games with grindhouse cinema aesthetics. He created a proof‑of‑concept demo, which he showed to Abbott.
Abbott then introduced the demo to Dooma, a partner who helped refine the concept. Dooma Wendschuh, the studio’s chief financial officer and narrative director, brings a unique blend of film and tech experience. He began as a producer and screenwriter before moving into video‑game writing in the early 2000s, contributing to titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins through his company Sekretagent Productions. In the 2010s he founded several tech ventures, most notably the cannabis formulation firm Ebbu, which sold for C$430 million (about $330 million USD).
After that windfall, Wendschuh bought a remote island restaurant in Canada, intending to retire. Yet a call from his old Hollywood‑hillroommate, Michael Abbott, pulled him back into the industry.
Impressed by Dietsch’s demo, Wendschuh re‑entered development, bringing on Reid Schneider—former Warner Bros. Games VP and now head of Raccoon Logic—as a strategic advisor, and recruiting Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, a former Ubisoft Montreal programmer, as chief technology officer.
Funding proved challenging amid a market downturn. The team began pitching in summer 2023, but investors were cautious. After initial outreach, they enlisted the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in Los Angeles to represent them. With CAA’s help, they continued pitching through 2024 and eventually closed a seed round with Lifelike Capital and Krafton.
Wendschuh notes that CAA’s representation, along with the credibility of veterans like Schneider and Chartrand, was instrumental in gaining investor confidence. Despite the modest headcount—13 full‑time staff—the studio has maintained a collaborative culture where everyone contributes creatively. Dietsch emphasizes that early in development they focused heavily on building robust internal tools.
"If a system exists in the game, it must be scalable and debuggable by a single person," he explains. By investing time in a flexible toolkit, the team ensured that as features expanded across the open‑world map, the project wouldn’t collapse under its own weight. This tool‑first mindset also positions Wolf Haus to reuse the technology for future titles. The equity funding model gave the studio the runway to perfect these tools.
Krafton and Lifelike’s capital financed the entire development, with only a modest portion later allocated to project finance for marketing. Because the investors own equity, they are motivated to increase the studio’s enterprise value, which aligns with Wolf Haus’s philosophy of building custom tools to solve problems rather than outsourcing or buying off‑the‑shelf solutions. While this approach can slow development, it enables a small team to achieve results typically reserved for much larger studios.
When asked about generative AI, Dietsch gives a clear answer: none is used in the creative process. "We believe a human touch is essential to game making," he says. The only AI tools they employ are mundane productivity assistants for scheduling and email drafting.
Interestingly, Krafton—publicly positioning itself as an "AI‑first" company—explicitly required Wolf Haus not to rely on generative AI for creative work, mirroring similar stances from other Krafton‑owned studios like 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, not synthetic voices. This dedication reflects the team’s respect for creative professionals and their desire to avoid displacing voice talent or artists with AI.
Dietsch also contrasts the immediacy of game development with the lengthy gestation of film. In cinema, an idea can take years to secure funding, talent, and distribution before it ever sees the light of day. In games, an idea can be prototyped in a single morning, inserted into the engine, and instantly experienced.
This rapid feedback loop fuels the studio’s iterative design process and keeps the team motivated. Wendschuh adds that while film production is heavily front‑loaded—requiring high‑profile directors or actors to green‑light a project—games face fewer gatekeepers. "Anyone can make a game without needing an A‑list star," he says.
This lower barrier to entry, combined with the studio’s technical expertise, has allowed Wolf Haus to pursue an ambitious vision with a fraction of the resources traditionally required. Both founders trace their passion back to childhood. Dietsch recalls wanting to make either movies or games at age six, a decision that ultimately hinged on receiving a camera for Christmas. He taught himself programming on a TI‑83 calculator, laying the groundwork for a career that now bridges both mediums.
He believes that, regardless of format, the core objective remains the same: to craft an experience, tell a story, and engage an audience. In summary, Wolf Haus Games exemplifies how a small, Hollywood‑rooted team can defy industry norms by leveraging custom tools, strategic partnerships, and a steadfast commitment to human‑crafted content. Their upcoming title, Join Us, promises a wild, satirical take on cult culture, built without the shortcuts of generative AI and powered by a dozen passionate creators who believe that size isn’t the only determinant of ambition.