The trailer for Join Us first appeared during the Xbox Showcase in June, offering a glimpse of a darkly humorous cooperative cult simulation. In the clip, robed cultists zip around on pig‑like mounts, brandishing machine guns before the scene cuts to massive, Cthulhu‑inspired tentacles. One detail that didn’t make the final edit was the infamous "snake gun," a weapon that Joe Dietsch, the chief executive officer and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, says was born from a child’s imagination.
"One of the team members’ kids asked, ‘What would a snake‑shooting gun look like?’ We had a rapid‑prototyping tool that let us spin up a new weapon in about thirty minutes, so I built it on the fly. The kid was thrilled, and the weapon stayed in the game," Dietsch recalls.
That anecdote captures the chaotic, sandbox‑style gameplay that Join Us promises: an open‑world survival experience 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 enabled a high‑fidelity title to emerge from a remarkably small development team.
Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, describes the crew’s ambition succinctly: "We wanted to be disruptors." "We told everyone, ‘We don’t need a hundred‑person studio; twelve talented people can do this.’ Most people thought we were crazy," Abbott says. "But we’ve spent our careers punching well above our weight in indie film, so we know how to stretch limited resources." The team endured eighty pitch meetings before finally securing equity investment from Krafton and Lifelike Capital. Both investors now own a stake in Wolf Haus, providing the financial backbone for the project.
The founders’ Hollywood pedigree runs deep. Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson—son of Mel Gibson—who 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, the production company started by Chris Roberts before he moved on to the Star Citizen universe. Abbott later produced films such as Fight for ’84, starring Jamie Foxx.
Join Us originated from Dietsch’s experimentation with Unreal Engine. "I discovered Unreal was free to download, and I’d always loved games but felt blocked from actually building one," he explains. "I started learning through YouTube tutorials and built a few tiny prototypes." Even without prior development experience, Dietsch managed to release a couple of modest games before deciding to tackle something bigger. "I kept circling back to the idea of a doomsday cult simulator because it merged my love of survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema, essentially fusing the things I adore in movies and games into a single IP." He crafted 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, a partner who helped shape the next phase. Dooma Wendschuh, Wolf Haus’s chief financial officer and narrative director, began his career as a film producer and screenwriter before transitioning to games in the early 2000s. He founded Sekretagent Productions, providing narrative services for titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins. Later, he launched 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 and enjoy a quiet life. Yet, in classic Hollywood fashion, a call from his old roommate Michael Abbott pulled him back into the industry. "I was watching a video of Joe’s prototype and it blew my mind, so I came out of retirement to help," Wendschuh says.
He introduced the project to Reid Schneider, a former Warner Bros. Games vice‑president now heading Raccoon Logic, the studio behind Journey to the Savage Planet. Schneider joined as a strategic advisor and recruited Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, a former Ubisoft Montreal programmer, to serve as chief technology officer. With the core team in place, the next hurdle was funding—particularly difficult during the industry downturn of mid‑2023.
"People liked what we were building, but the market was tight," Dietsch notes. The studio enlisted CAA (Creative Artists Agency) to help with outreach, eventually closing a seed round with Lifelike Capital and Krafton in 2024. Wendschuh credits CAA’s connections, noting that the agency also represents titles like 007: First Light.
"Our agent Derek Douglas had represented me for twelve years in games and previously ran the video‑game department at William Morris," he adds. Despite the high‑profile backing, Join Us remains a product of a lean operation—just thirteen full‑time staff members.
"We entered the project with a clear sense of scope and wanted to keep a small‑team culture where everyone’s voice matters and everyone contributes creatively," Dietsch says. To make such an ambitious open‑world title feasible for a tiny crew, Wolf Haus invested heavily in custom tooling from the outset.
"Every system must be scalable and debuggable by a single person. We built a robust toolkit early so that as features expanded across the map, the project wouldn’t collapse under its own weight," Dietsch explains.
He adds that the first year of development was split between ideating gameplay and engineering the tools that would make those ideas possible, not just for Join Us but for future projects as well. The equity financing model gave the studio the breathing room to perfect these tools. "Krafton and Lifelike’s capital funded the entire development.
We’re now only seeking a modest amount of project finance for marketing, but the core game was built with their equity investment," Wendschuh says. One advantage of equity funding, according to Wendschuh, is that investors share the studio’s goal of increasing enterprise value, which aligns with the team’s commitment to building reusable tools. "Whenever we encounter a problem we can’t solve, we simply create a tool to address it.
It may slow us down in the short term, but it enables a small team to deliver a game of this scale." When asked about the role of generative AI, Dietsch is unequivocal: the studio does not rely on it for creative work. "We believe a human touch is essential. Handing development over to an AI would defeat why we get up each morning to make games," he says.
Wendschuh adds that while they use AI for mundane tasks like calendar management and email drafting, it never touches the artistic side of production. Krafton, despite branding itself as an "AI‑first" company, also insisted that Wolf Haus avoid generative AI in the creative pipeline.
This stance mirrors that of Neon Giant, another Krafton‑owned studio that publicly distanced itself from the parent’s AI initiatives. Both Wendschuh and Dietsch emphasize that the game’s world and audio are entirely handcrafted. The six‑kilometre‑square map was built by hand, and the 15,000 voice lines were recorded by human actors—choices they consider vital for an indie title that values authenticity. Dietsch finds game development offers a immediacy that film lacks.
"In film, an idea can sit on paper for years before you ever see it on set, and you need countless approvals. In games, you can prototype an idea in the morning, drop it into the engine, and see it instantly. That instant feedback is exhilarating." Wendschuh notes that film production is heavily front‑loaded, requiring high‑profile talent to secure greenlights, whereas games have fewer gatekeepers.
"Anyone can rent a camera and shoot a backyard movie, but without star power or distribution, success is rare. Games, on the other hand, have a lower barrier to entry—no need for A‑list actors or directors." Despite the different mediums, both creators agree that storytelling is the core driver.
"When I was six, I wanted to make either movies or games. It boiled down to a coin toss and maybe getting a camera for Christmas. I learned to program on a TI‑83, so both have been part of me forever.
Whether it’s a film or a game, you’re delivering an experience, telling a story, and engaging an audience. That essence never changes."