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 clip, robed followers zip around on pigs, wielding machine guns, before the screen fades to a monstrous, Cthulhu‑like mass of tentacles.
One of the most memorable, albeit omitted, moments was the appearance of a snake‑shooting gun – a feature that originated from a simple suggestion by a team member’s child. Joe Dietsch, the CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, recounted how the idea was quickly turned into reality: "A kid asked if we could make a snake gun, and because we had a modular weapon system, I was able to prototype one in roughly thirty minutes. It was a thrill for him, and the weapon stayed in the final build." That anecdote captures the chaotic, improvisational spirit that defines Join Us. The title is an open‑world sandbox survival experience where players can recruit followers—or invite friends in co‑op mode—to build a 1970s‑style cult.
The game's design emphasizes player‑driven chaos, from bizarre weaponry to surreal, horror‑infused environments. Yet behind the madness lies a disciplined, technology‑first approach that has allowed Wolf Haus to produce a high‑fidelity title with an exceptionally small staff. Michael Abbott, the studio’s chief operating officer, summed up their philosophy: "We set out to be disruptors. Everyone told us a twelve‑person team couldn’t deliver a game of this scope, but we knew from indie film work that we could punch far above our weight." The team’s background in low‑budget, high‑impact filmmaking gave them confidence to tackle ambitious projects without the massive headcounts typical of AAA studios.
After an arduous 80‑pitch marathon, Wolf Haus secured equity investment from both Krafton and Lifelike Capital, giving the studio the financial runway needed to bring Join Us to life. The founders’ Hollywood connections run deep. Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson, son of actor 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 his transition to the Star Citizen universe. Abbott later produced films such as Fight for ’84 starring Jamie Foxx, further cementing the studio’s cinematic lineage. Join Us began as a personal experiment in Unreal Engine. "I discovered that Unreal was free to download and started tinkering with it using YouTube tutorials," Dietsch explained.
Though he had no formal game‑development background, he quickly built a few small prototypes, eventually gravitating toward a doomsday cult simulator concept that blended survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics. He created a proof‑of‑concept demo, which impressed Abbott enough to present it to Dooma, a venture that would later become instrumental in the studio’s growth.
Dooma Wendschuh, Wolf Haus’s chief financial officer and narrative director, transitioned from film to games in the early 2000s, founding Sekretagent Productions. That firm supplied narrative work for titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins. Wendschuh later built several tech ventures, most notably the cannabis formulation company Ebbu, which sold for C$430 million (about $330 million USD). After a brief retirement—during which he bought a remote island restaurant in Canada—Wendschuh was pulled back into development when an old Hollywood‑hill roommate, Michael Abbott, called to show him a video game prototype.
"The demo blew my mind and convinced me to come out of retirement," he said. The team’s roster solidified when Wendschuh introduced Reid Schneider, a former Warner Bros. Games vice president now heading Raccoon Logic, as a strategic advisor.
Schneider recruited Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, a former Ubisoft Montreal programmer, to serve as chief technology officer. With this core in place, Wolf Haus turned its attention to financing during a market downturn. Initial outreach in summer 2023 yielded modest interest, but after partnering with CAA (Creative Artists Agency) and re‑pitching in 2024, the studio closed a seed round with Lifelike Capital and Krafton. The backing from CAA—who also represent titles like 007: First Light—proved vital, as did the involvement of seasoned industry veterans.
"Our agent Derek Douglas had represented me for twelve years in games and previously ran the video‑game department at William Morris," Wendschuh noted, underscoring the importance of relationships built over decades. Despite the high ambitions, Wolf Haus operates with just thirteen full‑time staff members.
Dietsch emphasized that the small‑team model is intentional: "We wanted everyone to have a voice, to touch the creative process, and to feel ownership over the final product." To make such a large, open‑world experience feasible, the studio invested heavily in custom tooling early on. "Any system in the game must be scalable and debuggable by a single developer," Dietsch explained. The first year of development was split between designing gameplay concepts and building the internal tools that would later allow those concepts to scale across a six‑kilometre‑square map without the project collapsing under its own weight.
Funding from Krafton and Lifelike is structured as equity, meaning the studio can self‑finance development while using a modest amount of project finance for marketing. This model encourages long‑term value creation: investors are motivated to see the studio’s enterprise value rise, which aligns with Wolf Haus’s ethos of building reusable tools rather than taking shortcuts. "Whenever we encounter a problem we don’t know how to solve, we build a tool for it," Wendschuh said. "It may slow us down in the short term, but it enables us to deliver a complex game with a tiny team." In an industry increasingly fascinated by generative AI, Wolf Haus deliberately avoids using such technology for creative work.
"We believe a human touch is essential in game development," Dietsch asserted. "Turning the creative process over to an AI would defeat the reason we get up every morning." Wendschuh added that while the studio subscribes to a few AI services for mundane tasks like calendar management and email drafting, none are employed in art, design, or narrative creation. Interestingly, Krafton—a company that has recently branded itself as "AI‑first"—insisted that Wolf Haus not use generative AI for core development, mirroring similar stances from other Krafton‑owned studios such as Neon Giant. The team’s commitment to handcrafted content extends to the game's massive map and voice work.
All terrain, structures, and environmental details are manually crafted, and the 15,000 voice lines were recorded by human actors, not synthetic voices. "Even as an indie, we felt it was crucial to preserve that human element," Dietsch emphasized. Dietsch also reflected on the contrast between filmmaking and game development. In film, a concept can take years to materialize, requiring approvals, casting, and extensive pre‑production before a single frame is shot.
By contrast, a game idea can be prototyped within hours: "You can have an idea in the morning, drop it into the engine, and see it instantly. That immediacy is exhilarating." Wendschuh noted that film production is heavily front‑loaded, with intense, short‑term bursts of activity on set, whereas games benefit from a more distributed workflow and fewer gatekeepers. "Anyone can rent a camera and shoot a backyard movie, but without star power or distribution, success is unlikely. In games, you don’t need an A‑list actor or director to reach an audience," he said.
Both founders agree that the core creative drive—telling stories and delivering experiences—remains the same across mediums. Dietsch recalled his childhood fascination with both cameras and calculators, noting that his early programming on a TI‑83 sparked a lifelong passion for interactive storytelling. "Whether you’re making a film or a game, you’re crafting an experience, sharing a narrative, and engaging an audience.
That fundamental goal doesn’t change."