You may remember seeing the trailer for Join Us during the Xbox Showcase in June. The clip introduced a darkly humorous cooperative cult simulator, featuring robed followers riding pigs, wielding machine guns, and culminating in a shot of massive, Cthulhu‑like tentacles. One element that didn’t make the final cut was the infamous snake gun, a feature that Joe Dietsch, the CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, proudly recounts.
"One of the developers’ kids came up with the idea and asked, ‘What if there was a snake gun?’ We had a rapid‑prototyping tool that lets us scale weapons in minutes, so I whipped up a snake‑shooting firearm in about half an hour. The kid went nuts, and we kept it in the game," Dietsch explains.
That anecdote captures the chaotic, over‑the‑top gameplay that Join Us promises: an open‑world sandbox where players can recruit followers—or friends in co‑op mode—to a retro‑70s‑style cult. It also illustrates the studio’s technology‑first mindset, which has enabled a small crew to deliver a high‑fidelity experience that would normally require a much larger staff.
Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, summed it up succinctly: “We wanted to be disruptors.” "We told everyone, ‘We don’t need a hundred people; twelve is enough.’ Most people laughed and called us crazy," Abbott says. "But we’ve spent our careers punching far above our weight in indie film, so we knew how to stretch a shoestring budget. After 80 pitches we finally secured equity funding from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, both of which took a stake in Wolf Haus." The founders’ Hollywood pedigree runs 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, the production company founded by Chris Roberts before he turned his attention to Star Citizen.
Abbott later produced films such as Fight for ’84, starring Jamie Foxx. Join Us grew out of Dietsch’s early experiments in Unreal Engine. "Unreal is free to download, and I’d always loved games but felt the barrier to creation was huge," he says. "I started learning from YouTube tutorials and built a couple of tiny prototypes.
The idea of a doomsday cult simulator kept resurfacing because it let me mash together survival mechanics, grindhouse cinema vibes, and the narrative beats I love from movies." He built a proof‑of‑concept demo and showed it to Abbott, who then introduced it to Dooma. Dooma’s CFO and narrative director, Dooma Wendschuh, began his career as a film producer and screenwriter before moving into games in the early 2000s, founding Sekretagent Productions, which supplied writing for titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins.
In the 2010s he launched several tech ventures, most notably the cannabis formulation company Ebbu, which sold for C$430 million (about $330 million USD). After selling Ebbu, Wendschuh bought a remote restaurant on a tiny Canadian island, intending to retire and walk his dog on the beach. Yet, in classic Hollywood fashion, a sudden call from his old roommate Michael Abbott pulled him back. "I was looking at the video Joe sent me, and it blew my mind.
It convinced me to come out of retirement," Wendschuh recalls. He then brought in Reid Schneider, former VP at Warner Bros.
Games and now head of Raccoon Logic (the studio behind Journey to the Savage Planet), as a strategic advisor. Schneider recruited Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, a former Ubisoft Montreal programmer, to serve as chief technology officer.
With a core team taking shape, the next hurdle was financing—a daunting task given the industry downturn that began in 2023. "People liked what we were building, but the market was tough," says Dietsch. The studio enlisted the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in Los Angeles, refined its pitch deck, and continued presenting to investors throughout 2024. Their persistence paid off when Lifelike Capital and Krafton closed a seed round, providing the capital needed to keep development on track.
Wendschuh believes the CAA connection was pivotal, especially because the agency also represents titles such as 007: First Light. He also notes that seasoned game veterans like Schneider and Chartrand added credibility that investors appreciated. "Derek Douglas, our agent at CAA, had been my agent when I was making games for twelve years and previously headed the video‑game department at William Morris," Wendschuh adds. Despite the high‑profile backing, Join Us remains a truly boutique effort: only 13 full‑time staff members are working on it.
"We entered the project knowing exactly what we wanted to achieve, but we also wanted a small‑team culture where every voice matters and everyone can touch the creative core," Dietsch explains. To make such an ambitious open‑world title feasible, the studio invested heavily in custom tooling early on. "Any system in the game has to be scalable and debuggable by a single person," Dietsch says.
"We built a toolkit that lets one developer iterate without the whole project collapsing under its own weight. The first year was as much about building those tools as it was about designing gameplay. Those tools will also serve future projects." The funding structure gave Wolf Haus the runway to perfect these tools. "Krafton and Lifelike are equity partners, so their investment directly finances development.
We’re now adding a modest amount of project finance for marketing, but the core game was built entirely with their equity," Wendschuh notes. "Equity investors care about studio valuation, so they support our tool‑building ethos, even if it slows short‑term progress.
It lets us create a game of this scale with a tiny crew." When asked about generative AI, the team’s answer is unequivocal: they don’t use it for creative work. "We believe a game needs a human touch. Hand‑crafting experiences is why we get up in the morning," Dietsch says.
"We might use AI for mundane tasks like calendar scheduling, but never for art, design, or writing." Krafton, which has recently branded itself as an “AI‑first” company, actually insisted that Wolf Haus stay clear of generative AI in the creative pipeline. "Our investors wanted to be sure we weren’t relying on AI to make the game," Wendschuh confirms, echoing a similar stance taken by Neon Giant, another Krafton‑owned studio. The team is also committed to preserving jobs for human creators. "We don’t want AI to replace voice actors or artists," Wendschuh adds.
All 15,000 voice lines in Join Us were recorded by real actors, and the six‑kilometre‑square map was hand‑crafted, not procedurally generated. Dietsch reflects on the contrast between film and game development.
In cinema, an idea can take years to materialise, requiring countless approvals and the involvement of high‑profile talent. "You write a script, wait three or five years, get a green light, and finally see it on set," he says. "Games let you prototype an idea the same morning, drop it into the engine, and see it instantly. That immediacy is exhilarating." Wendschuh points out that film production is heavily front‑loaded: securing a star director or A‑list actor is often the biggest hurdle before a movie ever gets made.
While anyone can technically shoot a backyard movie, breaking through without big names or distribution is rare. In games, the gatekeepers are fewer, making it easier for small teams to reach a wide audience without celebrity backing. Both men agree that the core creative drive is the same across mediums: telling a story and delivering an experience. "When I was six, I wanted to make either movies or games—it boiled down to a coin toss and whether I got a camera for Christmas," Dietsch laughs.
"I learned to program on a TI‑83, so I’ve always been drawn to both. Whether it’s a film or a game, you’re crafting an experience, a narrative, and an emotional connection. The tools change, but the purpose stays the same."