The trailer for Join Us first caught the public’s eye during the Xbox Showcase in June, offering a glimpse of a darkly humorous cooperative cult simulation. In the clip, robed followers charge on pigs while firing machine guns, and the sequence culminates with a monstrous, Cthulhu‑like mass of tentacles. What didn’t make the cut, according to Joe Dietsch—CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games—was the infamous snake‑gun.
"One of the developer’s kids came up with the idea and asked, ‘What if there was a snake gun?’ We had a modular weapon system that let us prototype a new gun in roughly thirty minutes. I built a snake‑shooting weapon on the fly, and the kid went nuts.
It’s still in the final build," Dietsch recalls. This anecdote captures the chaotic, over‑the‑top gameplay that Join Us promises: an open‑world sandbox where players can amass followers—or team up with friends—to run a 1970s‑style cult. It also illustrates the studio’s technology‑first mindset, which has allowed a tiny crew to produce a high‑fidelity title that would normally require a far larger staff.
Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, summed up the team’s philosophy: "We wanted to be disruptors. We told everyone, ‘We don’t need a hundred developers; twelve can do the job.’ Most people laughed and said it was impossible." Their confidence stems from a background in indie filmmaking, where small budgets often force creators to punch well above their weight. After 80 pitches, Wolf Haus finally secured equity funding from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, giving the studio the financial runway to continue development.
The founding trio brings deep Hollywood connections to the table. 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 Star Citizen venture. Abbott later produced movies such as Fight for ’84 starring Jamie Foxx. Join Us originated from Dietsch’s early experiments in Unreal Engine. "I discovered Unreal was free to download and started tinkering after watching countless YouTube tutorials.
I’d loved games for years, but the barrier to actually creating something felt huge. Unreal lowered that barrier," he explains. Despite having no formal game‑development training, Dietsch built a few small prototypes before deciding to tackle something bigger: a doomsday cult simulator that fused his love of survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics.
He crafted a proof‑of‑concept demo, ran into technical roadblocks, and shared the demo with Abbott, who then introduced it to Dooma. 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, including the cannabis‑formulation company Ebbu, which sold for C$430 million (about $330 million USD). After a brief retirement on a remote Canadian island, a call from his old Hollywood‑hill roommate Michael Abbott pulled him back into the industry.
Wendschuh took the Join Us demo to Reid Schneider, former VP at Warner Bros. Games and current 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 this core in place, the studio turned its attention to financing. Pitching began in the summer of 2023, a period marked by a broader industry downturn.
"People liked what we were building, but it was a tough market," Dietsch notes. After initial outreach, the team signed with CAA in Los Angeles, refined their pitch, and eventually closed a seed round with Lifelike Capital and Krafton in 2024. The CAA connection proved invaluable. Derek Douglas, Wolf Haus’s agent at CAA, had previously represented Wendschuh during his twelve‑year stint making games and had headed the video‑game division at William Morris.
This pedigree, combined with the experience of Schneider and Chartrand, helped convince investors of the studio’s credibility. What truly sets Join Us apart is how it is being built: a full‑scale, open‑world game created by just thirteen full‑time staff members.
Dietsch emphasizes that the team entered the project with a clear understanding of its scope and a desire to keep the group tight‑knit, ensuring that every voice could influence the creative direction. To achieve such ambition with a lean crew, Wolf Haus invested heavily in custom tooling early in development. "Any system we build must be scalable and debuggable by a single person," Dietsch says.
The studio spent the first year simultaneously designing gameplay concepts and constructing the internal tools that would let those concepts scale across a six‑kilometre‑square map without collapsing under their own weight. Funding from Krafton and Lifelike allowed the team to perfect these tools without the pressure of external deadlines.
The investment was structured as equity, meaning the investors share in the studio’s eventual enterprise value. "They encourage us to build robust tools because it raises the studio’s long‑term worth," Wendschuh explains. This approach sometimes slows immediate development but enables a small team to produce a game of this magnitude. When asked about the role of generative AI, the team is unequivocal: they do not rely on it for creative work.
"We believe a game needs a human touch. Using AI to generate assets would defeat the purpose of why we love making games," Dietsch says. Wendschuh adds that while they may use AI for mundane tasks like calendar management, none of it touches the artistic side of development. Interestingly, Krafton, which has branded itself as an "AI‑first" company, explicitly required Wolf Haus to avoid generative AI in the creative pipeline, mirroring a similar stance taken by Neon Giant, another Krafton‑owned studio.
The studio’s commitment to handcrafted content extends to the game’s massive map and its 15,000 voice lines, all recorded by human actors. "That was non‑negotiable for us, even as a small indie," Dietsch asserts. Dietsch also reflects on the differences between film and game production.
In cinema, an idea can take years to materialise, requiring approvals, casting, and extensive pre‑production. By contrast, a game idea can be prototyped within hours and tested instantly in the engine, offering a immediacy that he finds exhilarating. Wendschuh notes that while film production is front‑loaded with high‑stakes negotiations to secure A‑list talent, games have far fewer gatekeepers. "You don’t need a Hollywood star or a famous director to make a successful game; the barriers to entry are lower," he says.
Both mediums, however, share a common creative impulse: storytelling and delivering an experience. Dietsch recalls that as a child he wanted to make either movies or games, and a simple coin toss decided the path. He learned programming on a TI‑83 calculator, and that early fascination has stayed with him throughout his career.
"Whether you’re making a film or a game, you’re trying to tell a story, engage an audience, and create an experience," he concludes. In summary, Wolf Haus’s journey demonstrates how a small, Hollywood‑savvy team can leverage bespoke technology, strategic financing, and a clear artistic vision to build an ambitious, high‑quality game without resorting to generative AI. Their story underscores the potential for indie studios to disrupt traditional development models, proving that size and budget are not the only determinants of success in the modern gaming landscape.