The trailer for Join Us first caught the public’s eye during the Xbox Showcase in June, offering a glimpse of a darkly humorous cooperative cult simulator. In the clip, robed cultists ride on pigs, wielding machine guns, before the screen fades to an image of colossal, Cthulhu‑like tentacles.
One of the more memorable, though unseen, moments was the appearance of a snake‑shooting weapon, a detail explained by Joe Dietsch, the CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games. Dietsch recounts that the idea for the snake gun came from a casual conversation with a team member’s son. “He asked, ‘Can there be a snake gun?’ We had a modular weapon system that let us prototype quickly, so within half an hour I built a gun that fires snakes. His reaction was pure amazement, and we kept the weapon in the final build.” This anecdote epitomises the chaotic, improvisational spirit that defines Join Us, an open‑world sandbox survival game where players can recruit followers—or other players in co‑op mode—to their 1970s‑style cult.
The development philosophy behind the title is equally unconventional. Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, describes the studio’s ambition as a deliberate disruption of industry norms: “We told ourselves we didn’t need a hundred‑person team; twelve people could do the job. Everyone else thought we were delusional.” Their confidence stems from a background in indie filmmaking, where small crews routinely punch far above their financial weight. After 80 pitches, the studio finally secured equity funding from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, both of which took stakes in Wolf Haus.
The founding trio brings deep Hollywood connections to the table. Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson, son of Mel Gibson, who now co‑founder Wolf Haus. 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 transition to Star Citizen. Abbott later produced movies such as Fight for ’84 starring Jamie Foxx. Join Us originated from Dietsch’s early experiments in Unreal Engine.
“I discovered Unreal was free to download, and despite loving games for years, I felt there was a massive barrier to actually creating something,” he says. He taught himself through YouTube tutorials, eventually building a few small prototypes before committing to a larger vision: a doomsday cult simulator that fuses survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics. The concept evolved into a proof‑of‑concept demo, which Dietsch showed to Abbott.
“Michael then took it to Dooma,” Dietsch notes, referring to the studio’s early partner. Dooma Wendschuh, Wolf Haus’s chief financial officer and narrative director, entered the gaming world after a career in film production and screenwriting. In the early 2000s he founded Sekretagent Productions, providing narrative services for titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins.
Later, he built several tech ventures, most notably the cannabis‑formulation company Ebbu, sold for roughly C$430 million (US$330 million). After selling Ebbu, Wendschuh bought a remote island restaurant in Canada, intending to retire. Yet a call from his former Hollywood Hills roommate, Michael Abbott, pulled him back into the industry. After reviewing Dietsch’s prototype, Wendschuh was convinced and re‑entered development, subsequently recruiting Reid Schneider—formerly a vice‑president at Warner Bros.
Games—and Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, a former Ubisoft Montreal programmer, to serve as strategic advisor and chief technology officer respectively. Funding proved challenging amid a broader industry downturn. The studio began pitching in summer 2023, initially struggling to gain traction.
After partnering with CAA (Creative Artists Agency) in Los Angeles, they refined their pitch and returned to investors in 2024, eventually closing a seed round with Lifelike Capital and Krafton. Wendschuh credits the CAA connection—whose roster includes titles like 007: First Light—and the presence of seasoned veterans Schneider and Chartrand for opening doors that would otherwise have remained closed.
Despite the high‑profile backing, Wolf Haus remains a lean operation of just 13 full‑time staff members. Dietsch emphasizes that the small size is intentional: “We wanted a studio where every voice matters, where everyone can touch the creative process, and where the final product feels like the work of a tightly‑knit team.” To achieve the scale of Join Us with such a modest headcount, the studio invested heavily in proprietary tooling early in development. “If a system exists in the game, it must be scalable and debuggable by a single developer,” Dietsch explains.
The first year of production was split between ideating gameplay and building the internal tools that would later allow the open‑world map, sprawling systems, and complex AI to function without collapsing under its own weight. The equity funding model gave Wolf Haus the runway needed to perfect these tools.
“Krafton and Lifelike’s investments are essentially financing the game itself,” says Wendschuh. “We’re now only seeking a modest amount of project finance for marketing; the core development has been fully covered by our equity partners.” This arrangement aligns investor incentives with the studio’s long‑term vision of building reusable technology, even if it slows short‑term progress. "Whenever we hit a problem we don’t know how to solve, we build a tool to address it," Wendschuh adds, noting that this approach, while slower, enables a tiny team to deliver a high‑fidelity experience.
In an era where many studios tout generative‑AI‑driven pipelines, Wolf Haus deliberately eschews such methods. "We don’t use generative AI for any creative work," Dietsch states unequivocally.
"Our process relies on human craftsmanship; handing the creative decisions over to an algorithm would defeat the purpose of why we love making games." Wendschuh concedes that the team employs generative‑AI tools only for administrative tasks like calendar management and email drafting, not for any aspect of game design, art, or narrative. Krafton, which has publicly positioned itself as an "AI‑first" company, actually discouraged the use of generative AI in Wolf Haus’s creative pipeline. The investor wanted assurance that the studio’s output would remain wholly human‑crafted, mirroring the stance taken by Krafton‑owned Neon Giant, which also denied involvement in the parent company’s AI initiatives. Wendschuh stresses that the studio values the labor of voice actors and artists, noting that Join Us’s six‑kilometre‑square map is entirely hand‑built and its 15,000 voice lines were recorded by human performers.
Dietsch reflects on the contrast between film and game development, highlighting the immediacy of the latter. In film, an idea can take years to materialise: "You write a script, wait for funding, secure A‑list talent, then finally get on set—often after a long, uncertain gestation period." By comparison, a game concept can be prototyped in a single morning: "You have an idea, drop it into the engine, and see it instantly.
That immediacy is exhilarating." Wendschuh adds that while film production is front‑loaded with intense, high‑stakes coordination, game development offers a more iterative, accessible pathway. "Anyone could technically shoot a movie with a backyard camera, but without big names or distribution, success is unlikely. In games, the barriers are lower; you don’t need an A‑list actor or director to reach an audience." Both founders agree that the core creative drive is the same across mediums: delivering an experience, telling a story, and engaging an audience. Dietsch recalls that his fascination with both games and movies began at age six, when a coin toss and a Christmas camera set him on a path of programming on a TI‑83 calculator and dreaming of visual storytelling.
Whether through film or interactive media, the goal remains to craft compelling narratives that resonate with players and viewers alike. In summary, Wolf Haus’s journey demonstrates how a small, Hollywood‑savvy team can leverage in‑house technology, strategic funding, and a staunch commitment to human‑centric creation to produce an ambitious, high‑quality game without relying on generative AI. Their story underscores the potential for lean studios to disrupt traditional development models, proving that with the right mix of talent, tools, and tenacity, a dozen dedicated creators can deliver a game that rivals the scope of far larger productions.