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 followers charge on pig‑mounted platforms, unleash a barrage of machine‑gun fire, and the sequence culminates with a terrifying vision of Cthulhu‑like tentacles. What didn’t make the final cut was the infamous snake‑gun, a weapon that Joe Dietsch—CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games—credits to a child’s off‑hand suggestion.
According to Dietsch, one of the developers’ sons asked, “Can there be a snake gun?” The studio’s internal toolset allowed the team to prototype a fully functional snake‑shooting weapon in roughly thirty minutes. The result amazed the youngster, and the quirky firearm remains a permanent fixture in the game. That anecdote encapsulates the chaotic, over‑the‑top gameplay that Join Us promises: an open‑world sandbox survival experience where players can recruit followers—or teammates in co‑op mode—to build a 1970s‑style cult empire.
It also highlights the team’s technology‑first philosophy, which has enabled a high‑fidelity, large‑scale title to be built by a remarkably small crew. Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, summed up their ambition: “We wanted to be disruptors. We told everyone we could build this with twelve people, and they laughed.” The founders’ confidence stems from a history of achieving big results on shoestring budgets.
“We come from indie film,” Abbott explained, “so we’re used to punching well above our weight.” After 80 pitch meetings, Wolf Haus finally secured equity financing from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, both of which now hold stakes in the studio. Wolf Haus’s leadership is steeped in Hollywood pedigree. Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson—son of 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, a production company founded by Chris Roberts before his transition to Star Citizen. Abbott later produced movies such as Fight for ’84 starring Jamie Foxx. The seed of Join Us was planted when Dietsch began tinkering with Unreal Engine after discovering it was free to download. “I’d loved games my whole life, but the barrier to actually creating something felt huge,” he recalled.
He taught himself through YouTube tutorials, built a few modest prototypes, and eventually returned to a long‑standing fascination: a doomsday cult simulator that merged survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics. He built a proof‑of‑concept demo, assuming it would soon hit a technical wall. When he showed the demo to Abbott, the latter immediately took it to Dooma, a partner studio. Dooma Wendschuh, Wolf Haus’s CFO and narrative director, entered the gaming world after a career as a film producer and screenwriter.
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, including Ebbu, a cannabis‑formulation company that sold for roughly C$430 million (US$330 million).
After selling Ebbu, Wendschuh bought a remote island restaurant in Canada, intending to retire. Yet a call from his old Hollywood Hills roommate, Michael Abbott, pulled him back into development. Wendschuh was impressed by Dietsch’s demo and, through his network, 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 assembled, the next hurdle was financing.
The studio began pitching in summer 2023, a period marked by a broader industry downturn. Despite the challenging climate, the team persisted, eventually partnering with CAA (Creative Artists Agency) in Los Angeles and re‑pitching in 2024.
Their efforts paid off when Lifelike Capital and Krafton closed a seed round, providing the capital needed to continue development. Wendschuh credits the CAA connection—whose roster includes titles like 007: First Light—and the presence of veteran advisors for smoothing the fundraising path. “Derek Douglas, our agent at CAA, was also my agent when I spent twelve years making games,” Wendschuh noted, adding that Douglas previously headed the video‑game department at William Morris.
Even with high‑profile backing, Join Us remains a product of a lean operation: only thirteen full‑time staff members. Dietsch emphasizes that the small‑team model was intentional, fostering an environment where every voice matters and each person can directly influence the creative direction. To make such an ambitious open‑world title feasible, Wolf Haus invested heavily in custom tooling early in development.
“If a system exists in the game, it must be scalable and debuggable by a single person,” Dietsch explained. “We built a toolkit that lets us expand features across a massive map without the project collapsing under its own weight.” This tool‑first approach not only accelerated current development but also laid the groundwork for future projects.
The equity‑funding structure gave Wolf Haus the runway to perfect these tools. Krafton and Lifelike’s investments were used to self‑finance the game, with only a modest amount of project finance earmarked for marketing. “Equity partners are incentivized to increase the studio’s enterprise value, so they support our tool‑building ethos,” Wendschuh said. “Whenever we encounter a problem we can’t solve, we simply build a tool to address it.
It may slow us down in the short term, but it enables a tiny team to deliver a game of this scope.” In an industry increasingly enamored with generative AI, Wolf Haus deliberately steers clear of it for creative work. Dietsch asserts, “We don’t use any generative AI in development.
The human touch is essential to us. We love making games, and handing the process over to an algorithm would defeat the purpose of why we get up in the morning.” Wendschuh adds that while the studio may use AI for mundane tasks like calendar management or email drafting, it plays no role in art, design, or narrative creation.
Even Krafton, which has branded itself an “AI‑first” company, insisted that Wolf Haus avoid generative AI in the creative pipeline. This mirrors the stance of Neon Giant, another Krafton‑owned studio that publicly rejected AI‑driven development. Wendschuh stresses the ethical dimension: “We respect creative professionals and don’t want AI to take jobs away from voice actors or artists.” Accordingly, the six‑kilometre‑square map in Join Us is handcrafted, and all 15,000 voice lines were recorded by human actors—a point of pride for the indie‑sized team.
Dietsch reflects on the contrast between filmmaking and game development. In film, an idea can take years to materialize, requiring approvals, casting, and extensive pre‑production.
By contrast, a game concept can be prototyped within hours: “You can have an idea in the morning, drop it into the engine, see it instantly, and start iterating.” Wendschuh agrees, noting that film production is front‑loaded with intense, high‑stakes coordination, whereas game development offers a more iterative, accessible pathway. While anyone can theoretically shoot a backyard movie with a cheap camera, breaking into the film market without star power or distribution is extremely difficult. Video games, however, have far fewer gatekeepers; a small team can reach a global audience without needing A‑list talent.
This democratization is a core reason why Wolf Haus believes a modest crew can deliver a blockbuster‑level experience. Both Dietsch and Wendschuh see a shared creative impulse across the two mediums. Dietsch recounts that as a child he was torn between making movies or games—a decision that ultimately hinged on receiving a camera for Christmas. He learned programming on a TI‑83 calculator, laying the foundation for a lifelong passion.
“Whether you’re making a film or a game, you’re trying to give someone an experience, tell a story, and engage them,” he says. "The medium changes, but the goal stays the same."