The trailer for Join Us first caught many eyes during the Xbox Showcase in June, presenting a darkly humorous cooperative cult simulator where robed followers zip around on pigs, unleash machine‑gun fire, and culminate in a nightmarish vision of Cthulhu‑like tentacles. Yet the most memorable moment that didn’t make the final cut was the appearance of a snake‑shooting weapon, a quirky addition that Joe Dietsch, the CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, says was inspired by a child’s off‑hand suggestion. "One of the team members’ son asked, ‘What would a snake gun look like?’" Dietsch recalls. "Because we built a modular gun system, I could prototype a snake‑firing weapon in under thirty minutes.
The kid went nuts, and we kept it in the game." That anecdote perfectly illustrates the chaotic, sandbox‑style gameplay Join Us aims to deliver. Players will build a 1970s‑style cult, recruit followers—or team up with friends in co‑op mode—and survive in an open‑world environment that encourages both strategic planning and absurdist fun. The game’s design philosophy mirrors the studio’s broader approach: a technology‑first mindset that lets a small, highly skilled crew punch far above its weight. Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, sums up the ambition: "We wanted to be disruptors.
The industry tells you you need a hundred‑person studio to make a high‑fidelity title, but we believed twelve could do it. Everyone laughed at the idea until we proved them wrong." Their confidence wasn’t unfounded. The founders came from indie‑film backgrounds where tight budgets are the norm, and they had already survived eighty pitch meetings before finally securing equity investment from Krafton and Lifelike Capital.
Both investors took a stake in Wolf Haus, providing the financial foundation for the project. The studio’s leadership is steeped in Hollywood pedigree.
Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson—son of actor Mel Gibson—who later co‑founded Wolf Haus 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 his shift to Star Citizen. Abbott later produced movies such as Fight for ’84, starring Jamie Foxx, giving him a solid grounding in large‑scale entertainment production.
Join Us originated from Dietsch’s early experiments with Unreal Engine. "Unreal was free to download, and I felt there was an enormous barrier for creators who wanted to build something from scratch," he explains. He taught himself through YouTube tutorials, creating a handful of small games before deciding to tackle something far more ambitious. The core concept—a doomsday cult simulator that fuses survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics—kept resurfacing in his mind.
He built a proof‑of‑concept prototype, hit the inevitable technical roadblocks, and showed the demo to Abbott, who then introduced it to Dooma. Dooma Wendschuh, Wolf Haus’s chief financial officer and narrative director, entered the picture after a varied career that spanned film production, screenwriting, and video‑game writing.
He founded Sekretagent Productions, supplying narrative services for titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins. Later, he launched several tech ventures, including the cannabis‑formulation company Ebbu, which sold for roughly C$430 million (US$330 million).
After cashing out, Wendschuh bought a remote restaurant on a tiny Canadian island, intending to retire. A sudden call from his old Hollywood Hills roommate, Michael Abbott, pulled him back into the industry.
After reviewing a demo of Join Us, he was convinced and helped bring on strategic advisor Reid Schneider—formerly a vice president at Warner Bros. Games—and CTO Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, a veteran programmer from Ubisoft Montreal.
Funding proved to be the next hurdle. The team began pitching in summer 2023, a period marked by a broader industry downturn. Initial reactions were positive but cautious. With the help of CAA (Creative Artists Agency) and a renewed 2024 pitch cycle, Wolf Haus finally closed a seed round with Lifelike Capital and Krafton.
Wendschuh credits the agency’s reputation—representing titles like 007: First Light—and the presence of seasoned industry veterans for opening doors. Despite the high‑profile backing, the studio remains lean: only thirteen full‑time staff members work on Join Us.
Dietsch emphasizes that the small size is intentional, fostering a collaborative environment where every voice shapes the creative direction. To make a large‑scale open‑world game feasible with such a team, Wolf Haus invested heavily in custom tooling early on. "Every system must be scalable and debuggable by a single person," he says.
The first year of development was split between ideating gameplay and building the internal toolset that would later allow the team to expand features across the map without the project collapsing under its own weight. The equity model with Krafton and Lifelike also gave the studio the breathing room to perfect these tools. The funding was used primarily to self‑finance development, with only a modest portion earmarked for marketing later on.
This arrangement aligns the investors’ interests with the studio’s long‑term value creation, encouraging the team to keep building reusable tools even when it slows short‑term progress. When asked about generative AI, a hot topic in game development, Dietsch gives a clear answer: none is used in the creative pipeline.
"We believe a human touch is essential. Automating art or design would defeat why we get up each morning," he says. Wendschuh adds that the studio’s AI subscriptions are limited to administrative tasks like calendar management and email drafting—not content creation. Interestingly, Krafton, which publicly brands itself as an "AI‑first" company, explicitly required Wolf Haus to avoid generative AI in the game's development, mirroring similar stances taken by other Krafton‑owned studios.
The commitment to handcrafted content extends to the game’s world and audio. The six‑kilometer‑square map was built manually, and all 15,000 voice lines were recorded by human actors, a point the team proudly highlights as a differentiator for an indie title. Dietsch reflects on the contrast between film and games, noting the immediacy of the latter.
In cinema, an idea can take years to materialize, requiring approvals, casting, and extensive pre‑production. In game development, an inspiration can be prototyped within hours, allowing creators to see their vision instantly in the engine. Wendschuh observes that film production is heavily front‑loaded, with high‑profile talent often needed to secure financing, whereas games have fewer gatekeepers, making it easier for small teams to achieve success without A‑list names. Both mediums, however, share a core purpose: delivering an experience, telling a story, and engaging an audience.
Dietsch’s childhood wish to make either movies or games came down to a coin toss and a camera for Christmas. He learned programming on a TI‑83 calculator, and that blend of visual storytelling and technical curiosity has guided his career. Today, Join Us stands as a testament to what a tight‑knit, Hollywood‑savvy, tech‑focused team can accomplish without relying on generative AI, proving that a handful of passionate creators can still build ambitious, high‑quality games.