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 preview, robed followers charge on pig‑back, brandishing machine guns, before the screen erupts into an image of colossal, Cthulhu‑like tentacles. What didn’t make the cut was the infamous "snake gun," a weapon that, according to Joe Dietsch—CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games—originated from a simple suggestion by a team member’s child.
"His son asked, ‘Can there be a snake gun?’" Dietsch recalls. "Because we built a modular gun system, I could prototype a snake‑shooting weapon in roughly thirty minutes. The kid went nuts, and the gun stayed in the final build." That anecdote captures the chaotic, improvisational spirit that defines Join Us, an open‑world sandbox survival title where players can recruit followers—or invite friends in co‑op—to join a 1970s‑style cult. It also illustrates Wolf Haus’s technology‑first philosophy, which has enabled a small crew to deliver a high‑fidelity experience that would normally require a much larger staff.
Michael Abbott, the studio’s chief operating officer, summed up their ambition: "We set out to be disruptors. We told everyone, ‘We don’t need a hundred people; twelve is enough.’ Most people laughed, saying it was impossible. We proved them wrong." The team’s confidence stems from a background in indie filmmaking, where they learned to achieve big results on shoestring budgets. "We come from indie film circles and we’re used to punching well above our weight," Abbott notes.
After 80 pitch meetings, Wolf Haus finally secured equity investment from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, both of which now hold stakes in the studio. Wolf Haus’s founders are steeped in Hollywood history.
Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson, son of actor‑director 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.
The genesis of Join Us can be traced back to Dietsch’s early experiments in Unreal Engine. "Unreal was free to download, and I’d always loved games as much as movies," he explains. "There was a huge barrier to entry for creating something yourself, so I started learning from YouTube tutorials and built a few tiny prototypes." Even without formal training, Dietsch managed to ship a couple of small games before deciding to tackle something more ambitious: a doomsday cult simulator that blended survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics. He built a proof‑of‑concept demo, assuming he would eventually hit a technical wall.
When he showed the demo to Abbott, the latter took it to Dooma, a partner studio, for further development. Dooma Wendschuh, Wolf Haus’s chief financial officer and narrative director, entered the gaming world after a career in film production and screenwriting.
In the early 2000s he founded Sekretagent Productions, providing narrative work 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 firm Ebbu, which sold for roughly C$430 million (US$330 million). After the sale he bought a remote island restaurant in Canada, intending to retire.
Yet a chance call from his old Hollywood Hills roommate, Michael Abbott, pulled him back into the industry. "I saw the demo Joe had built and it blew my mind, so I came out of retirement," Wendschuh says. Wendschuh then recruited Reid Schneider, former VP of Warner Bros.
Games and now head of Raccoon Logic (the makers of Journey to the Savage Planet), as a strategic advisor. Schneider brought on Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, a veteran programmer from Ubisoft Montreal, to serve as chief technology officer. With this core in place, the studio turned its focus to funding—a daunting task given the industry downturn of 2023‑24.
Initial pitches generated interest but also skepticism. After partnering with CAA in Los Angeles and re‑pitching throughout 2024, Wolf Haus finally closed a seed round with Lifelike Capital and Krafton. The involvement of CAA, which also represents titles like 007: First Light, proved crucial.
"My agent Derek Douglas had represented me for twelve years in games and previously headed the video‑game department at William Morris," Wendschuh notes. This pedigree, combined with veteran advisors, helped the studio secure the necessary capital.
Despite the high‑profile backing, Join Us is being built by just 13 full‑time staff members. Dietsch emphasizes 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 an expansive game feasible with a tiny crew, Wolf Haus invested heavily in proprietary tooling from the outset.
"Every system in the game must be scalable and debuggable by a single person," Dietsch explains. "We built a toolkit that lets us expand features across a large open world without the project collapsing under its own weight." The first year of development was therefore split between designing gameplay concepts and constructing the underlying tools that would later enable rapid iteration. The equity‑funded model gave the studio the runway to perfect these tools. "Krafton and Lifelike’s investment is essentially self‑funding the game," says Wendschuh.
"We’re now adding a modest amount of project finance for marketing, but the core development has been covered by their equity stakes." One of the most striking aspects of Wolf Haus’s approach is its staunch refusal to rely on generative AI for creative work. When asked about the technology, Dietsch answered bluntly: "We don’t use any generative AI.
The human touch is essential to us. Turning the creative process over to an algorithm would defeat the purpose of why we get up each morning." Wendschuh adds that the studio only employs AI tools for administrative tasks such as calendar management and email drafting. "We have no AI involvement in any artistic or design decisions," he confirms. Interestingly, Krafton—despite branding itself as an "AI‑first" company—insisted that Wolf Haus avoid AI in the creative pipeline, mirroring a similar stance taken by Neon Giant, another Krafton‑owned studio.
The commitment to handcrafted content extends to the game’s world and voice work. The six‑kilometre‑square map of Join Us was built entirely by hand, and the 15,000 voice lines were recorded by human actors, not synthetic voices.
"That level of human involvement mattered to us, even as a small indie," Dietsch says. Dietsch also reflects on the differences between film and game creation. In cinema, an idea can take years to materialise, requiring approvals, casting, and extensive pre‑production.
By contrast, a game concept can be prototyped within hours and tested instantly in the engine, offering an immediacy he finds exhilarating. "You can have an idea this morning, drop it into the engine, see it in action, and iterate on the spot," he says. Wendschuh observes that film production is heavily front‑loaded, with intense, high‑stakes set work and a reliance on a few marquee names to secure financing. While anyone can technically shoot a movie with a cheap camera, breaking through without star power or distribution is rare.
Games, however, have fewer gatekeepers; a small team can release a polished product directly to players without needing A‑list talent. Both founders agree that the core creative drive—telling stories and delivering experiences—remains the same across mediums. "When I was six, I wanted to make either movies or games.
It came down to a coin toss and whether I got a camera for Christmas," Dietsch recalls. "I learned to program on a TI‑83, so the passion was there either way.
Ultimately, whether you’re making a film or a game, you’re crafting an experience, telling a story, and engaging an audience. That doesn’t change." In summary, Wolf Haus’s Join Us showcases how a small, Hollywood‑infused team can build a large‑scale, high‑quality game without leaning on generative AI, instead relying on bespoke tools, deep industry connections, and a relentless belief in the power of human creativity.