The trailer for Join Us first appeared during the Xbox Showcase in June, offering a glimpse of a darkly humorous co‑op cult simulator where robed followers zip around on pigs, unleash machine‑gun fire, and eventually confront colossal, Cthulhu‑like tentacles. One quirky element that didn’t make the final cut of the showcase was the infamous "snake gun," a weapon that shoots serpents. According to Joe Dietsch, the CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, the idea sprang from a child’s imagination.
"My team member’s son asked, ‘What would a snake‑gun look like?’ We had a modular weapon system that lets us prototype quickly, so within half an hour I built a gun that fires snakes. He was thrilled, and we kept it in the game," Dietsch recalls. This anecdote captures the chaotic, improvisational spirit that defines Join Us, an open‑world sandbox survival title where players can recruit AI followers or friends to join a 1970s‑style cult. It also highlights the studio’s technology‑first mindset, which has allowed a small crew to produce a high‑fidelity experience that would normally require a much larger staff.
Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, summed up their ambition: "We wanted to be disruptors. We told ourselves, ‘We don’t need a hundred people; twelve will do.’ Everyone else thought we were crazy." Their confidence stems from a background in indie filmmaking, where they learned to achieve cinematic results on shoestring budgets.
After 80 pitch meetings, the studio finally secured equity investment from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, giving Wolf Haus the financial runway to continue development. The founders’ Hollywood roots 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 renowned 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 movies such as Fight for ’84, starring Jamie Foxx, giving the team a solid pedigree in visual storytelling. 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 training, he built a few tiny prototypes before deciding to tackle something bigger: a doomsday cult simulator that fuses survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics.
The proof‑of‑concept was rough but compelling enough to catch Abbott’s attention, who then presented it to Dooma, a partner studio that helped refine the vision. Dooma Wendschuh, Wolf Haus’s CFO and narrative director, brings a unique blend of film and tech experience.
He began as a producer and screenwriter before moving into game writing in the early 2000s, contributing narrative work to titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins. Later, he founded several tech ventures, most notably the cannabis formulation company Ebbu, which sold for C$430 million (about $330 million USD). After cashing out, Wendschuh bought a remote island restaurant in Canada, intending to retire.
Yet a chance call from his former Hollywood‑Hills roommate, Michael Abbott, pulled him back into game development. Impressed by Dietsch’s demo, Wendschuh re‑entered the industry, recruiting former Warner Bros. Games VP Reid Schneider as a strategic advisor and bringing in Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, an ex‑Ubisoft Montreal programmer, as chief technology officer.
With the core team assembled, the next hurdle was financing—an uphill battle given the industry’s downturn in 2023. After initial outreach, Wolf Haus signed with CAA (Creative Artists Agency) and relaunched its pitch campaign in 2024.
Their persistence paid off when Lifelike Capital and Krafton closed a seed round, providing the capital needed to continue development without sacrificing creative control. The studio’s lean structure—13 full‑time staff members—means every employee wears multiple hats. Dietsch explains that early development focused heavily on building robust internal tools. "If a system can’t be scaled or debugged by a single person, the whole project collapses.
So we invested a huge portion of the first year in tooling, which now lets us expand features across a massive open world without the usual overhead." Equity funding from Krafton and Lifelike allowed Wolf Haus to self‑finance the game’s production. "Our investors care about long‑term enterprise value, so they encourage us to build reusable tools rather than cut corners," says Wendschuh.
This philosophy sometimes slows short‑term progress but ultimately empowers a tiny team to deliver a product that rivals titles from far larger studios. When asked about generative AI, the team is unequivocal: they do not rely on it for creative work. "We believe a game should retain a human touch. Using AI to generate assets would undermine why we get up every morning," Dietsch states.
Wendschuh adds that while they use AI for mundane tasks like calendar management, none of the artistic or narrative elements are AI‑generated. Interestingly, Krafton—positioning itself as an "AI‑first" company—explicitly required Wolf Haus to avoid generative AI in the creative pipeline, mirroring a similar stance taken by Neon Giant, another Krafton‑owned studio.
All 15,000 voice lines in Join Us were recorded by human actors, and the six‑kilometer‑square map was handcrafted. This commitment to handcrafted content reflects the team’s dedication to authenticity, even as an indie studio. Dietsch notes a key advantage of game development over filmmaking: immediacy. In film, an idea can take years to materialize, requiring approvals, casting, and extensive pre‑production.
In contrast, a game concept can be prototyped in a single morning, inserted into the engine, and instantly visualized. This rapid iteration fuels the studio’s creative momentum. Wendschuh observes that movies are front‑loaded with high‑stakes negotiations to secure A‑list talent and studio backing, whereas games face fewer gatekeepers.
"Anyone can rent a camera and shoot a backyard film, but without big names or distribution, success is unlikely. In games, you don’t need a Hollywood star to attract an audience; the medium itself offers a lower barrier to entry," he explains. Both founders agree that storytelling is the common thread linking film and games. Dietsch reflects on his childhood: "I wanted to make movies or games; it came down to a coin toss and getting a camera for Christmas.
I learned programming on a TI‑83, so I’ve always loved both mediums. Whether you’re crafting a film or a game, you’re delivering an experience, telling a story, and engaging an audience.
The tools change, but the goal stays the same." Join Us thus stands as a testament to what a small, passionate team can achieve when they blend Hollywood storytelling expertise, savvy tech development, and unconventional financing. By refusing to lean on generative AI and insisting on handcrafted assets, Wolf Haus is carving a niche for indie studios that value human creativity above all else.