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 preview, robed followers charge on pig‑mounted platforms, unleash a barrage of machine‑gun fire, and the sequence culminates with a monstrous, Cthulhu‑like mass of tentacles. What the audience didn’t see was the infamous snake‑gun, a weapon that Joe Dietsch—CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games—explains was born from a child’s off‑hand suggestion.
"One of the team members’ kids asked, ‘What would a snake‑gun look like?’ We had a rapid‑prototyping tool that could spin up a new firearm in minutes, so within half an hour I built a gun that fires snakes. The kid went nuts, and the weapon made it into the final build," Dietsch recalls. This anecdote captures the chaotic, improvisational spirit that defines Join Us, an open‑world sandbox where players can amass followers—or invite friends into co‑op mode—to run a 1970s‑style cult. It also illustrates the studio’s technology‑first mindset, which has enabled a small crew to produce a high‑fidelity, large‑scale experience.
Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, summed up their ambition: "We wanted to be disruptors. We told everyone, ‘We don’t need a hundred‑person team; twelve will do.’ Most people laughed and called it impossible." Their confidence stems from a background in indie filmmaking, where they learned to stretch modest budgets into ambitious projects. After 80 pitch meetings, the studio finally secured equity financing from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, both of which took stakes in Wolf Haus.
The founders’ Hollywood connections run deep. Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson—son of Mel Gibson—and the two later 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, a production company founded by Chris Roberts before his transition to Star Citizen. Abbott’s résumé also includes producing credits on movies such as Fight for ’84 starring Jamie Foxx.
Join Us originated from Dietsch’s early experiments in Unreal Engine. "I discovered that Unreal was free to download, and despite loving games for years, I felt the barrier to creating something was huge. I started learning from YouTube tutorials and built a few tiny prototypes," he says. Those modest beginnings blossomed into a full‑blown proof‑of‑concept centered on a doomsday cult—an idea that fused his love of survival mechanics, grindhouse cinema, and the narrative freedom of games.
When Dietsch presented the demo to Abbott, the latter recognized its potential and introduced it to Dooma Wendschuh, Wolf Haus’s chief financial officer and narrative director. Wendschuh’s career began in film production and screenwriting before he pivoted to games in the early 2000s, founding Sekretagent Productions, which supplied writing talent for titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins. Later, he launched several tech ventures, most notably the cannabis formulation firm Ebbu, sold for roughly C$430 million (US$330 million). After the sale, he bought a remote island restaurant in Canada, intending to retire.
Yet a call from his old Hollywood Hills roommate, Michael Abbott, pulled him back into development. "I was ready to walk my dog on the beach, but Joe’s game blew my mind and convinced me to come out of retirement," Wendschuh recounts. He then brought on Reid Schneider, a former Warner Bros. Games vice president now heading Raccoon Logic, as a strategic advisor.
Schneider recruited Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, an ex‑Ubisoft Montreal programmer, to serve as chief technology officer. With the core team assembled, the next hurdle was financing—a daunting task given the industry downturn of 2023‑24.
The studio began pitching in summer 2023, initially receiving polite interest but little commitment. After enlisting CAA (Creative Artists Agency) as representation and returning to the pitch circuit in 2024, they finally closed a seed round with Lifelike Capital and Krafton.
Wendschuh believes the CAA connection, which also represents titles like 007: First Light, and the presence of seasoned veterans like Schneider and Chartrand were decisive. Despite the high‑profile backing, Wolf Haus remains a lean operation of just thirteen full‑time staff. Dietsch explains that the small size is intentional: "We wanted a studio where everyone has a voice, where every person touches the creative process, and where the final product feels like it came from a tightly knit group." To make such an ambitious open‑world game feasible with a tiny crew, the studio invested heavily in custom tooling from day one. "Any system we build must be scalable and debuggable by a single person," Dietsch notes.
The team spent the first year simultaneously designing gameplay concepts and engineering the internal toolset that would keep the project from collapsing under its own weight as it expanded across a six‑kilometre‑square map. The funding model gave Wolf Haus the runway to perfect these tools. Krafton and Lifelike’s equity investment allowed the studio to self‑fund development, using only a modest portion of the capital for marketing later on. "Equity partners want the studio’s enterprise value to grow, so they support us in building extensive tooling," says Wendschuh.
"Whenever we hit a problem we don’t know how to solve, we build a tool. It may slow us down in the short term, but it enables a small team to achieve something that would otherwise require dozens of engineers." When asked about generative AI—a hot topic in game development—the team gave a clear answer: they do not rely on it for creative work. "We believe a game needs a human touch.
Using AI to generate assets would defeat the reason we get up in the morning," Dietsch says. Wendschuh adds that the only AI services they employ are mundane productivity tools for calendar management and email drafting. Krafton, despite branding itself as an "AI‑first" company, explicitly required Wolf Haus to avoid generative AI in the creative pipeline, echoing similar stances from other Krafton‑owned studios like Neon Giant.
The commitment to handcrafted content extends to the game’s world and voice work. The entire six‑kilometre‑square environment is hand‑modeled, and the 15,000 voice lines were recorded by human actors, not synthetic voices. "That was non‑negotiable for us, even as a small indie," Dietsch emphasizes. Dietsch also reflects on the differences between film and game creation.
In film, an idea can take years to materialize, requiring approvals, casting, and studio green‑lights before a single frame is shot. In contrast, games allow immediate iteration: "You can have an idea at breakfast, drop it into the engine, and see it in action within hours. That immediacy is exhilarating." Wendschuh points out that film production is heavily front‑loaded, with intense, high‑budget set days and a reliance on a few marquee names to secure financing.
While anyone can technically shoot a backyard movie, breaking through without star power or distribution is rare. Games, however, have fewer gatekeepers; a small team can launch a successful title without A‑list talent. "We don’t need a famous director or actor to make a hit; we just need a compelling experience," he says. Both men agree that storytelling is the core driver across mediums.
"When I was six, I wanted to make either games or movies. It boiled down to a coin toss and whether I got a camera for Christmas.
I learned programming on a TI‑83, so the love for both has always been there. Whether it’s a film or a game, you’re trying to give someone an experience, tell a story, and engage them.
That fundamental goal doesn’t change," Dietsch concludes. Join Us thus stands as a testament to what a focused, technically savvy, and creatively driven team can achieve without relying on massive headcounts or generative AI. It showcases how Hollywood heritage, strategic financing, and a commitment to handcrafted artistry can converge to produce a bold, unconventional game that invites players to lead a cult in a bizarre, satirical world.