The trailer for Join Us first appeared during the Xbox Showcase in June, offering a glimpse of a darkly humorous co‑op cult simulator. In the clip, robed followers ride on pigs, unleash a barrage of machine‑gun fire, and the sequence culminates with a massive, Cthulhu‑like tentacle looming on the horizon.
One detail that didn’t make the final cut was the infamous "snake gun," a weapon that emerged from a surprisingly personal source, according to Joe Dietsch, the CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games. "One of the team members’ kids asked, ‘What would a snake‑shooting gun look like?’" Dietsch recalls. "We have a modular weapon system that lets us prototype quickly, so within half an hour I built a gun that fires snakes.
The kid went nuts, and we kept it in the game." That anecdote captures the chaotic, improvisational spirit that defines Join Us. The title is an open‑world sandbox survival game where players can recruit followers—or invite friends in co‑op mode—to join a 1970s‑style cult. It also illustrates the studio’s technology‑first mindset, which has allowed a tiny crew to produce a high‑fidelity title that would normally require a much larger staff. Michael Abbott, the studio’s chief operating officer, summed up the ambition: "We set out to be disruptors.
We told everyone we could build a AAA‑ish experience with just twelve people. Most people laughed, but we proved them wrong." The Wolf Haus team’s confidence stems from a background in low‑budget, high‑impact filmmaking. "We come from indie cinema and we’re used to punching far above our weight," Abbott says.
The studio endured eighty pitches before finally securing equity investment from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, both of which now hold stakes in the company. The founders’ Hollywood connections run deep.
Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson—son of Mel Gibson—who later 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, a production company originally 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 originated from Dietsch’s early experiments in Unreal Engine. "Unreal Engine is free to download, and I’d always loved games but felt there was a huge barrier to actually creating something," he explains. He taught himself the engine through YouTube tutorials, eventually building a few modest prototypes before deciding to tackle something larger.
"I kept circling back to a doomsday cult simulator because it merged my love of survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema—essentially a mash‑up of my favorite movies and games into one IP." He built a proof‑of‑concept demo, assuming it would eventually hit a technical wall. When he showed the demo to Abbott, the latter took it to Dooma, the studio’s early‑stage partner. Dooma’s CFO and narrative director, Dooma Wendschuh, had begun his career as a film producer and screenwriter before moving into games in the early 2000s, contributing writing to titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins.
Later, Wendschuh founded several tech ventures, most notably the cannabis‑formulation company Ebbu, which sold for roughly C$430 million (US$330 million). After selling Ebbu, Wendschuh bought a remote restaurant on a tiny Canadian island, intending to retire. "I thought I’d just walk my dog on the beach," he says. Yet a call from his old Hollywood‑hillroommate, Michael Abbott, pulled him back.
Abbott told him a friend had built a video game, and after watching the demo, Wendschuh was convinced to join. He introduced the project to Reid Schneider, a former Warner Bros. Games vice president now heading Raccoon Logic, and Schneider recruited Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, a former Ubisoft Montreal programmer, as chief technology officer. With the core team in place, the next hurdle was financing—a daunting task during an industry downturn that began in 2023.
The studio’s first pitch cycle coincided with a market slump, but the concept continued to generate enthusiasm. "People liked what we were building, but the timing was tough," Dietsch notes. The team eventually partnered with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in Los Angeles, refined their pitch, and secured a seed round from Lifelike Capital and Krafton in 2024.
Wendschuh credits the CAA relationship and the presence of veterans like Schneider and Chartrand for smoothing the fundraising path. "My agent at CAA, Derek Douglas, had represented me for twelve years in games and even led the video‑game division at William Morris," he says. What truly sets Join Us apart is the scale of the undertaking relative to the studio size—just thirteen full‑time staff members. "From day one we knew the scope of what we wanted to achieve," says Dietsch, but the studio also prioritized a tight‑knit culture where every voice mattered and everyone could touch the creative process.
To make such an ambitious open‑world game feasible with a small crew, Wolf Haus invested heavily in internal tooling early on. "If a system exists in the game, it must be scalable and debuggable by a single developer," Dietsch explains. The team built a robust toolkit that could handle the sprawling map, AI, and procedural elements without collapsing under its own weight.
This tooling philosophy extended beyond Join Us; the studio intends to reuse the same infrastructure for future projects. The equity‑funding model gave Wolf Haus the runway needed to perfect these tools. "Krafton and Lifelike provided capital that we used directly to finance development," Wendschuh says.
"The game is essentially self‑funded, with a small amount of project finance earmarked for marketing." One of the surprising aspects of the funding arrangement is that the investors actually encourage the studio’s tool‑building ethos. "Because they have equity, they want the studio to increase its enterprise value, so they support us in building extensive tooling," Wendschuh notes.
"Whenever we encounter a problem we can’t solve, we simply create a tool to address it. It may slow development in the short term, but it enables a small team to produce a game of this magnitude." When asked about the role of generative AI—a hot topic in the industry—Dietsch is unequivocal: the studio does not employ AI for creative work. "We believe a human touch is essential. Hand‑crafting the experience is why we get up every morning," he says.
"We only use AI for mundane tasks like calendar management and email drafting." Even Krafton, which has recently branded itself as an "AI‑first" company, insisted that Wolf Haus avoid generative AI in the creative pipeline. "Our investors wanted to be sure we weren’t relying on AI to produce the game," Wendschuh confirms, echoing a similar stance taken by Neon Giant, another Krafton‑owned studio. The commitment to handcrafted content extends to the game’s world and audio.
The six‑kilometre‑square map is entirely hand‑modeled, and the 15,000 voice lines were recorded by human actors—an effort the team deemed vital despite their indie status. Dietsch also reflects on the differences between filmmaking and game development. In film, a concept can take years to materialize, requiring approvals and the involvement of high‑profile talent before it ever sees the light of day.
In contrast, a game idea can be prototyped within hours and tested instantly in the engine. "That immediacy is exhilarating," he says. "You can have an idea at breakfast and see it on screen by lunch." Wendschuh adds that traditional film production is heavily front‑loaded, with intense, costly set‑ups and a reliance on star power to secure financing.
While anyone can technically shoot a backyard movie, breaking through without marquee names or distribution is rare. By contrast, the barriers to entry for games are lower, and success is more attainable without celebrity endorsements. Both founders agree that, regardless of medium, the core mission remains the same: to craft an experience, tell a story, and engage an audience. "When I was six, I wanted to make either movies or games, and it boiled down to a coin toss and a Christmas camera," Dietsch muses.
"Whether you’re making a film or a game, you’re delivering an experience and a narrative, and that essence never changes."