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 while firing machine guns, culminating in a nightmarish vision of colossal, Cthulhu‑like tentacles.
One element that didn’t make the final cut of the trailer was the infamous “snake gun,” a quirky weapon that has become a signature feature of the game. According to Joe Dietsch, the chief executive officer and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, the idea for the snake‑shooting armament sprang from an unexpected source.
"One of our team member’s son asked, ‘What would a snake gun look like?’ We had a rapid‑prototyping tool that lets us scale weapons in minutes, so I whipped up a snake‑firing gun in about half an hour. His reaction was priceless, and the weapon stuck around in the final build," Dietsch recalls.
This anecdote encapsulates the chaotic, improvisational spirit that defines Join Us, an open‑world sandbox survival game where players can recruit followers—or invite friends in co‑op mode—to join a retro‑70s‑style cult. The same story also highlights the studio’s technology‑first philosophy, which has enabled a small team to produce a high‑fidelity title that would normally require a much larger staff. Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, describes the studio’s ambition as deliberately disruptive. "We told everyone we could build a AAA‑ish experience with just twelve people.
Most people laughed and said it was impossible," he says. Their confidence stems from a background in indie filmmaking, where they learned to achieve cinematic impact on shoestring budgets. "We’re used to punching well above our weight," Abbott adds. After an exhaustive 80‑pitch marathon, the studio finally secured equity funding from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, both of which now hold stakes in Wolf Haus.
The founders’ Hollywood pedigree runs deep. Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson, the son of Mel Gibson, who later co‑founded Wolf Haus and co‑wrote and co‑directed the indie films 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. This blend of cinematic experience and entrepreneurial grit laid the groundwork for their transition into interactive entertainment.
Join Us originated from Dietsch’s experimentation with Unreal Engine. "I discovered Unreal was free to download and started tinkering after watching countless YouTube tutorials," he explains. Though he had no formal training, Dietsch managed to assemble a few modest games before deciding to tackle something larger. The concept of a doomsday cult simulator kept resurfacing because it merged his love for survival mechanics with the gritty aesthetic of grindhouse cinema.
He built a proof‑of‑concept prototype, assuming he would eventually hit a technical wall. When he showed the demo to Abbott, the latter immediately took it to Dooma, a production partner that helped shape the vision.
Dooma Wendschuh, Wolf Haus’s chief financial officer and narrative director, brings a unique mix of film and tech experience. He began as a producer and screenwriter in Hollywood before founding Sekretagent Productions, a studio that supplied narrative work for titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins. In the 2010s he launched several tech ventures, most notably the cannabis formulation company Ebbu, which sold for roughly C$430 million (US$330 million).
After cashing out, 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 the industry.
"I watched the early video of Join Us and it blew my mind, so I came out of retirement," he says. Wendschuh recruited Reid Schneider, a former Warner Bros. Games vice‑president now heading Raccoon Logic (the studio behind Journey to the Savage Planet), as a strategic advisor.
Schneider in turn brought on Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, a former Ubisoft Montreal programmer, to serve as chief technology officer. With this core team in place, the next hurdle was financing—a task made more difficult by a market downturn that began in 2023. The studio pitched throughout the summer, eventually partnering with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) for representation. After a second round of pitches in 2024, they closed a seed round with Lifelike Capital and Krafton.
According to Wendschuh, the CAA connection—alongside the credibility of veterans like Schneider and Chartrand—was instrumental. "Derek Douglas, our agent at CAA, had represented me for twelve years and previously headed the video‑game department at William Morris," Wendschuh notes.
The studio’s lean structure—just 13 full‑time staff members—means that every employee has a say in the creative direction. "We wanted a small‑team atmosphere where everyone touches the creative and feels ownership," says Dietsch. To make such an ambitious open‑world game feasible for a tiny crew, Wolf Haus invested heavily in custom tooling from day one. "Any system in the game must be scalable and debuggable by a single person," Dietsch explains.
The team built a robust toolkit that allowed features to expand across a six‑kilometre‑square map without the project collapsing under its own weight. This tooling philosophy extended beyond Join Us; the studio intends to reuse and adapt these tools for future projects, turning the initial development year into both a game‑design sprint and a technology‑building marathon. Funding from Krafton and Lifelike Capital was structured as equity, allowing the studio to self‑finance the bulk of development. "We’ve used the investors’ capital to cover the entire production, only tapping external project finance for marketing later on," Wendschuh says.
This equity model aligns the investors’ interests with the studio’s long‑term value creation, encouraging Wolf Haus to continue building in‑house tools rather than outsourcing or cutting corners. When asked about the role of generative AI—a hot topic in the industry—Dietsch gave a clear answer: none. "We believe a human touch is essential.
Hand‑crafting the experience is why we get up in the morning," he says. Wendschuh adds that while they have a few AI subscriptions for mundane tasks like calendar management and email drafting, none are used in the creative pipeline. Interestingly, Krafton, which has publicly positioned itself as an “AI‑first” company, specifically required Wolf Haus to avoid generative AI in the game’s creation.
This mirrors a similar stance taken by Neon Giant, another Krafton‑owned studio. The studio’s commitment to human‑generated content is evident in the game’s scale. The six‑kilometre‑square world is entirely hand‑crafted, and the 15,000 voice lines were recorded by real actors, not synthetic voices. Dietsch emphasizes that even for a modest indie title, preserving that artisanal quality was a non‑negotiable priority.
Dietsch also reflects on the differences between filmmaking and game development. In film, an idea can take years to materialize, subject to endless approvals and scheduling constraints. In contrast, a game concept can be prototyped within hours, allowing immediate iteration. "You can have an idea at breakfast and see it in the engine by lunch," he says, describing the exhilarating immediacy of interactive media.
Wendschuh points out that film production is heavily front‑loaded, requiring high‑profile talent and studio green‑lights before any shooting begins. While anyone can technically shoot a movie with a cheap camera, breaking through without marquee names or distribution is rare.
Game development, however, faces fewer gatekeepers; a small team can release a polished product without A‑list actors or directors. This democratization is one reason Wolf Haus believes their approach can succeed. Both founders agree that the core creative impulse—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 a Christmas camera," Dietsch laughs. He learned programming on a TI‑83 calculator, a hobby that evolved into a lifelong passion. Whether through film or interactive play, the goal is to engage audiences, evoke emotions, and share narratives. In summary, Wolf Haus Games demonstrates how a small, Hollywood‑savvy team can defy conventional wisdom, build a sprawling cult‑simulator without relying on generative AI, and leverage custom tools, strategic partnerships, and equity funding to bring an ambitious vision to life.