The trailer for Join Us first appeared during the Xbox Showcase in June, offering a glimpse of a darkly humorous cooperative cult simulator where robed followers ride on pigs, unleash machine‑gun fire, and eventually confront towering, Cthulhu‑like tentacles. One of the most memorable, though omitted, moments was the appearance of a "snake gun" – a weapon that literally fires serpents. Joe Dietsch, the CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, explains that the idea came from a team member’s child, who asked, "Can there be a snake gun?" Using an in‑house tool that allowed rapid weapon prototyping, Dietsch was able to create the snake‑shooting firearm in roughly thirty minutes, delighting the youngster and cementing the weapon’s place in the final game.
That anecdote captures the chaotic, over‑the‑top gameplay that Join Us promises: an open‑world sandbox where players can recruit followers—or invite friends in co‑op mode—to build a 1970s‑style cult empire. It also illustrates the studio’s technology‑first mindset, which has enabled a small crew to produce a high‑fidelity, large‑scale title. Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, says the team set out to be "disruptors," believing they could achieve what larger studios do with a fraction of the staff.
"We told everyone we could do it with twelve people; they thought we were crazy," Abbott recalls. Their confidence stems from a background in indie filmmaking, where they learned to punch well above their budgetary weight. Wolf Haus secured its financing after an arduous 80‑pitch marathon, eventually attracting equity investment from Krafton and Lifelike Capital.
Both investors took stakes in the studio, providing the seed money needed to move forward. The founders’ Hollywood roots 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 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.
"I discovered Unreal was free to download and started learning from YouTube tutorials," he says. Though he had no formal development experience, he managed to produce a few modest games before deciding to tackle something larger. The concept of a doomsday cult simulator appealed to him because it fused his love of survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema, bridging the aesthetics of his film background with interactive gameplay. He built a proof‑of‑concept prototype, expecting to hit a technical wall at some point.
When he showed the demo to Abbott, the latter recognized its potential and presented it to Dooma, a partner studio. 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, contributing writing to titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins. He later founded several tech ventures, including the cannabis formulation company Ebbu, which sold for roughly C$430 million. After selling Ebbu, Wendschuh bought a remote island restaurant in Canada, intending to retire.
Yet, in classic Hollywood fashion, an unexpected call from his old roommate Michael Abbott pulled him back into the industry. Impressed by the Join Us demo, Wendschuh re‑entered development, bringing on Reid Schneider—formerly a vice president at Warner Bros.
Games and now head of 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 in place, the next hurdle was funding, which proved difficult amid a market downturn in 2023. Initial pitches generated interest but no commitments.
After signing with CAA (Creative Artists Agency) in Los Angeles and re‑pitching in 2024, Wolf Haus finally closed a seed round with Lifelike Capital and Krafton. Wendschuh credits the CAA connection and the presence of seasoned veterans like Schneider and Chartrand for the eventual success. Despite the high ambitions of Join Us, the studio remains lean—13 full‑time staff members. Dietsch emphasizes that the small size is intentional, fostering an environment where every employee has a voice and can directly influence the creative direction.
To make such a scope feasible, the team invested heavily in custom tooling early on. "Any system in the game must be scalable and debuggable by a single person," Dietsch notes. By building robust internal tools, they ensured that as features expanded across the open world, the project would not collapse under its own weight.
This tool‑first approach also serves future projects, creating a reusable foundation. The equity funding model gave Wolf Haus the runway to perfect these tools. "Krafton and Lifelike’s investment finances the entire development," explains Wendschuh.
While a modest amount of project finance is now being used for marketing, the core development has been fully self‑funded through the equity partners. This arrangement aligns investor incentives with the studio’s long‑term value creation, encouraging the continued development of proprietary tools despite the short‑term slowdown they may cause. When asked about generative AI, the team is unequivocal: they do not employ it for creative tasks. "We believe a human touch is essential in game making," Dietsch says.
The only AI they use are mundane productivity tools for calendar management and email replies. Interestingly, Krafton, which has publicly positioned itself as an "AI‑first" company, explicitly required Wolf Haus to avoid generative AI in the creative pipeline, mirroring similar stances from other Krafton‑owned studios. The commitment to handcrafted content extends to the game's world and audio.
The six‑kilometer‑square map is entirely hand‑built, and the 15,000 voice lines were recorded by real actors, not synthetic voices. This dedication reflects the studio’s philosophy that creative labor should remain human‑driven.
Dietsch reflects on the contrast between film and game development. In cinema, an idea can take years to materialize, requiring approvals, casting, and extensive pre‑production.
In games, an inspiration can be prototyped within hours, allowing immediate iteration. Wendschuh adds that film production is heavily front‑loaded, often hinging on securing a few high‑profile talents to greenlight a project.
While anyone can technically shoot a movie with a modest camera, breaking through without star power or distribution is rare. By contrast, the video‑game market offers fewer gatekeepers; a small team can achieve success without A‑list names.
Both mediums, however, share a core creative impulse: to tell stories and deliver experiences. Dietsch’s childhood fascination with both movies and games—spurred by a Christmas camera and programming on a TI‑83 calculator—underscores this overlap. Whether through a cult‑themed sandbox or an indie film, the goal remains the same: to engage audiences, evoke emotions, and craft memorable narratives.