You may remember seeing the Join Us trailer during the Xbox Showcase back in June. The clip introduced a darkly humorous cooperative cult simulator, featuring robed followers riding pigs, firing machine guns, and culminating in a shot of enormous, Cthulhu‑like tentacles.
One element that didn’t make the final cut was the infamous snake gun, a feature that Joe Dietsch, the CEO 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 weapon in about thirty minutes, so I built it on the fly. The kid went nuts, and the gun stuck around in the final build," Dietsch recalls.
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 join a 1970s‑style cult. It also illustrates the studio’s technology‑first mindset, which has allowed a small crew to produce a high‑fidelity title that would normally require a much larger staff. "We set out to be disruptors," says Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer. "We told everyone, ‘We don’t need a hundred developers; twelve will do.’ Most people laughed and said it was impossible," Abbott explains.
"But we’ve spent years in indie film, learning how to punch far above our weight. After 80 pitches we finally secured equity funding from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, both of which took stakes in Wolf Haus." 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 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 movies such as Fight for ’84 starring Jamie Foxx.
Join Us began as a personal experiment in Unreal Engine. "I discovered that Unreal Engine could be downloaded for free, and that felt like a door opening," Dietsch says.
"I’d loved games for years, but the perceived barrier to creating something was huge. I started watching YouTube tutorials and tinkering on my own." Even without a formal background, Dietsch managed to put together a few small prototypes before deciding to aim higher. "The idea of a doomsday cult simulator kept resurfacing because it merged my love of survival games with grindhouse cinema, essentially fusing my favorite film and game tropes into a single IP." 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, the studio that would later become Wolf Haus. Dooma Wendschuh, the studio’s chief financial officer and narrative director, started his career as a producer and screenwriter in Hollywood before transitioning to games in the early 2000s. He founded Sekretagent Productions, which supplied writing talent 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 island restaurant in Canada, intending to retire and enjoy a quiet life. Yet, in classic Hollywood fashion, a call from his old roommate Michael Abbott pulled him back.
"I was looking at a game Joe had made, and it blew my mind. It convinced me to come out of retirement," Wendschuh recounts.
He then introduced the project to Reid Schneider, former VP at Warner Bros. Games and now head of 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 financing—an especially tough task given the industry downturn of 2023‑24.
The studio began pitching in summer 2023, receiving positive feedback but facing a cautious market. After partnering with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in Los Angeles and re‑pitching in 2024, Wolf Haus finally closed a seed round with Lifelike Capital and Krafton. Wendschuh believes CAA’s representation, which also covers titles like 007: First Light, was instrumental, as were the veteran gamers on the advisory board. "My agent Derek Douglas, who represented me during my twelve‑year game‑making stint, also heads the video‑game department at William Morris.
That network opened doors," he notes. Despite the high‑profile backing, Join Us remains a product of a lean operation—just 13 full‑time staff members.
"From day one we scoped the project realistically and insisted on a small‑team culture where every voice matters and everyone can touch the creative side," Dietsch says. To make such an ambitious open‑world title feasible, the studio invested heavily in internal tooling early on.
"If a system exists in the game, it must be scalable and debuggable by a single developer," Dietsch explains. "We built a robust toolkit that lets one person manage complex features across a massive map without the project collapsing under its own weight.
The first year was as much about building those tools as it was about designing gameplay." The equity funding from Krafton and Lifelike allowed Wolf Haus to self‑finance development, with only a modest amount of project finance earmarked for marketing. "Our investors have a vested interest in increasing the studio’s enterprise value, so they support our tool‑building ethos. 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 tiny team to deliver a AAA‑level experience," Wendschuh adds.
When asked about generative AI—a hot topic in game development—Dietsch is unequivocal: the studio does not rely on AI for creative work. "We believe a human touch is essential.
Using an AI to generate core content would defeat why we love making games in the first place," he states. Wendschuh concedes they use AI for mundane tasks like calendar management and email drafting, but not for any artistic or design decisions. Krafton, which has recently branded itself as an "AI‑first" company, actually required Wolf Haus to avoid generative AI in the creative pipeline.
"They wanted assurance that their investment wasn’t funding an AI‑driven studio," Wendschuh says, noting a similar stance from Neon Giant, another Krafton‑owned studio. Both founders emphasize respect for human creators.
"Generative AI threatens jobs for voice actors and artists, and that’s contrary to our philosophy," Wendschuh remarks. The six‑kilometer‑square map in Join Us is hand‑crafted, and the game’s 15,000 voice lines were recorded by real actors—an effort the team considers vital, even for an indie‑scale project.
Dietsch also highlights a key advantage of games over film: immediacy. "In cinema, you write a script, wait years for green‑light, then film. With games, you can conceive an idea in the morning and see it materialize in the engine that same day.
That instant feedback loop is exhilarating," he says. Wendschuh points out that film production is heavily front‑loaded, often requiring A‑list talent to secure financing. "Anyone can shoot a backyard movie, but without big names or distribution, success is unlikely.
Games have far fewer gatekeepers—no need for an A‑list star or director to get a project off the ground," he explains. Both agree that the core creative drive is the same across mediums: to craft experiences, tell stories, and engage audiences.
"When I was six, I wanted to make either movies or games. It came down to a coin toss and a Christmas camera.
I learned programming on a TI‑83, so I’ve always been straddling both worlds. Whether it’s film or interactive media, the goal is to deliver an immersive narrative," Dietsch concludes.