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 clip, robed followers zip around on pigs, unleash machine‑gun fire, and the sequence culminates with a massive, Cthulhu‑like mass of tentacles. What didn’t make it onto the screen was the infamous “snake gun,” a weapon that, according to Joe Dietsch—CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games—originated from a child’s off‑hand suggestion. "One of our team member’s son asked, ‘What if there was a snake gun?’ We had a rapid‑prototyping tool that let us spin up a new firearm in about half an hour, so I built one that literally shoots snakes.
The kid went nuts, and we kept it in the final build," Dietsch recalls with a grin. This anecdote captures the chaotic, over‑the‑top gameplay that Join Us promises: an open‑world sandbox where players can recruit followers—or friends in co‑op mode—to their 1970s‑style doomsday cult. It also illustrates the studio’s technology‑first mindset, which has enabled a high‑fidelity, content‑rich experience to be produced by a remarkably small crew.
Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, sums up their ambition: "We wanted to be disruptors. Everyone told us you need a hundred‑person studio to pull off something this ambitious.
We said, ‘No, twelve is enough.’" Their confidence stems from a background in low‑budget indie filmmaking, where punching above one’s weight is the norm. After 80 pitches, the team finally secured equity financing from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, giving Wolf Haus the runway needed to bring Join Us to life. The founders’ Hollywood pedigree runs 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 originally founded by Chris Roberts before his transition to Star Citizen. Abbott later produced movies such as Fight for ’84, starring Jamie Foxx. This blend of film‑industry savvy and gaming ambition set the tone for the studio’s culture.
Join Us began as a personal experiment in Unreal Engine. "Unreal Engine is free to download, and I’d always loved games but felt there was a huge barrier to actually creating something," Dietsch explains.
He taught himself the engine through YouTube tutorials, built a few modest prototypes, and eventually settled on a doomsday cult simulator—a concept that married his love of survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics. The proof‑of‑concept was rough but promising, and when he showed it to Abbott, the latter took it to Dooma for further development.
Dooma Wendschuh, Wolf Haus’s CFO and narrative director, entered the picture after a varied career that spanned film production, screenwriting, and video‑game writing for titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins. He later founded several tech ventures, including the cannabis‑formulation company Ebbu, which sold for C$430 million.
After a brief retirement on a remote Canadian island, a call from his old Hollywood‑Hills roommate Michael Abbott pulled him back into the industry. Wendschuh was instantly impressed by the Join Us demo and helped recruit industry veterans such as Reid Schneider—former Warner Bros. Games VP—and Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, a former Ubisoft Montreal programmer who now serves as Wolf Haus’s chief technology officer. Securing financing proved challenging amid an industry downturn in 2023.
The team’s early pitches generated interest but also skepticism. After enlisting CAA (Creative Artists Agency) as representation and refining their pitch throughout 2024, they finally closed a seed round with Lifelike Capital and Krafton. Wendschuh notes that CAA’s connections, including representation of titles like 007: First Light, and the presence of seasoned game veterans on the advisory board were instrumental in winning over investors.
Despite the high ambitions, the studio remains lean—13 full‑time staff members at the time of writing. Dietsch emphasizes that the small size is intentional: "We wanted a setting where everyone has a voice, everyone can touch the creative process, and the game feels like it was built by a tight‑knit group." To make such a scope feasible, 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 says.
The first year of development was split between ideating gameplay and building the internal toolset that would allow the open‑world map to expand without collapsing under its own weight. The equity funding from Krafton and Lifelike has allowed Wolf Haus to self‑finance the development, using the capital primarily for tool creation and later for modest marketing spend. "Our investors are aligned with us because they benefit from the studio’s enterprise value," Wendschuh explains. "When we hit a technical roadblock, we simply build a tool to solve it.
It may slow us down short‑term, but it enables a tiny team to deliver a game of this magnitude." In an era where many studios tout generative AI as a shortcut, Wolf Haus deliberately steers clear of it for creative work. "We don’t use generative AI in the game’s development," Dietsch states plainly. "The human touch is essential; handing the creative process over to an algorithm would defeat the purpose of why we love making games." Wendschuh adds that the studio only employs AI for mundane tasks like calendar management and email drafting. Even Krafton, which recently branded itself as an "AI‑first" company, insisted that Wolf Haus not rely on generative AI for artistic production.
This mirrors a broader industry sentiment, as seen in Neon Giant’s public distancing from Krafton’s AI pivot. The commitment to handcrafted content extends to the game’s world and audio. The six‑kilometre‑square map is entirely hand‑modeled, and the 15,000 voice lines were recorded by human actors—not synthetic voices.
Dietsch believes this human‑centric approach is vital, even for an indie title, because it preserves the emotional resonance that players expect. Transitioning from film to games also gave Dietsch a sense of immediacy he never experienced on a movie set. "In film, an idea can sit on paper for years before it’s green‑lit, and you need countless approvals to see it on screen.
In games, I can prototype an idea in the morning, drop it into the engine, and see it instantly. That rapid feedback loop is exhilarating," he says.
Wendschuh notes that film production is heavily front‑loaded: securing A‑list talent, negotiating studio deals, and navigating distribution channels are all gate‑keeping steps that can stall a project indefinitely. By contrast, the game industry has far fewer gatekeepers, allowing small teams to reach a global audience without celebrity backing.
"You don’t need an A‑list actor or director to make a successful game," he asserts. Both founders agree that storytelling is the common thread linking movies and games.
Dietsch reflects, "When I was six, I wanted to make either movies or games. It boiled down to a coin toss and getting a camera for Christmas. I learned programming on a TI‑83, so I’ve always loved both mediums.
Whether it’s a film or a game, you’re delivering an experience, telling a story, and engaging the audience. The core purpose doesn’t change." Join Us thus stands as a testament to what a small, focused team can achieve when they blend Hollywood experience, savvy financing, and bespoke technology—without leaning on generative AI.
The result is a quirky, high‑octane cult simulator that promises both laughs and thrills, all built by a dozen passionate creators who chose to keep the human element at the heart of their craft.