The trailer for Join Us first caught the public’s eye during the Xbox Showcase in June, unveiling a darkly humorous cooperative cult simulator where robed followers zip around on pigs, wield machine guns, and eventually confront colossal, Cthulhu‑like tentacles. One of the most memorable, yet omitted, moments was the appearance of a "snake gun" – a weapon that literally fires serpents. Joe Dietsch, the chief executive officer and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, explains that the idea came from a team member’s child who asked, "Can there be a snake gun?" Leveraging an internal tool that allows rapid weapon scaling, Dietsch was able to prototype the snake‑shooter in roughly thirty minutes.
The quirky weapon remains a permanent fixture in the final game, illustrating the studio’s playful, experimental ethos. Join Us is an open‑world sandbox survival experience that lets players recruit followers—or fellow players in co‑op mode—to build a 1970s‑style cult. The gameplay is intentionally chaotic, encouraging players to experiment with bizarre weapons, strange rituals, and an ever‑expanding map filled with hidden secrets. This design philosophy mirrors the development approach of Wolf Haus, a studio that set out to prove that a high‑fidelity, large‑scale title can be built by a remarkably small crew.
Michael Abbott, the company’s chief operating officer, summed up their ambition: "We wanted to be disruptors. We told everyone we could do everything with twelve people, and they laughed." The team’s confidence stems from a history of achieving big results on modest budgets. Many of the founders cut their teeth on indie film projects, learning to "punch above their weight" long before entering the gaming arena. After an exhaustive 80‑pitch campaign, Wolf Haus finally secured equity funding from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, both of which took stakes in the studio.
This financial backing gave the developers the runway needed to refine their tools and flesh out the game’s ambitious scope. Wolf Haus’s leadership is steeped in Hollywood pedigree. Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson, son of actor and 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 renowned makeup artist Larry Abbott and helped launch Ascendant Pictures, a production company founded by Chris Roberts before he moved on to the Star Citizen universe.
Abbott’s film résumé also includes producing credits on titles such as Fight for ’84 starring Jamie Foxx. This blend of cinematic experience and gaming ambition informs the studio’s narrative‑driven design. The genesis of Join Us can be traced back to Dietsch’s early experiments with Unreal Engine.
"Unreal was free to download, and I’d always loved games, but there was a perception that creating something meaningful required massive resources," he recalls. Starting with YouTube tutorials, Dietsch built a few modest prototypes before deciding to tackle a larger vision: a doomsday cult simulator that married survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics. He built a proof‑of‑concept demo, showed it to Abbott, and the duo began iterating on the concept, aware that technical obstacles would inevitably arise.
Enter Dooma Wendschuh, the studio’s chief financial officer and narrative director. Wendschuh’s career began in film as a producer and screenwriter before he transitioned to video games in the early 2000s, founding Sekretagent Productions, which contributed writing to titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins. He later launched several tech ventures, most notably the cannabis formulation company Ebbu, which sold for roughly C$430 million (US$330 million). After a brief retirement on a remote Canadian island, a call from his old Hollywood roommate Michael Abbott pulled him back into the industry.
Impressed by Dietsch’s demo, Wendschuh re‑entered game development, bringing on Reid Schneider—formerly a vice president at Warner Bros. Games—and Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, a veteran programmer from Ubisoft Montreal, as strategic advisor and chief technology officer respectively.
Securing financing proved challenging amid a broader industry downturn in 2023. The studio’s pitches, initially met with polite interest, gained traction after they partnered with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in Los Angeles. Leveraging CAA’s connections and the credibility of advisors like Schneider and Chartrand, Wolf Haus closed a seed round with Krafton and Lifelike Capital in early 2024.
The investors’ equity stakes meant the studio could self‑fund development, using the capital primarily to build robust internal tools rather than outsourcing large portions of production. Tool development is at the heart of Wolf Haus’s workflow.
"If a system exists in the game, it must be scalable and debuggable by a single developer," says Dietsch. Early in the project, the team invested heavily in creating a modular toolkit that could handle the sprawling open‑world map and the myriad interactive systems without collapsing under its own complexity.
This tooling philosophy not only accelerated current development but also laid the groundwork for future projects, ensuring that the studio could maintain its lean structure while still delivering AAA‑level polish. Funding from Krafton and Lifelike also allowed the studio to avoid shortcuts like generative AI, which many developers have turned to for asset creation.
Both Dietsch and Wendschuh emphasize a commitment to handcrafted content. "We don’t use generative AI for creative work. It might help with calendar scheduling, but the actual game design, art, and voice work are all human‑driven," Wendschuh explains. Krafton, despite branding itself as an "AI‑first" company, explicitly required Wolf Haus to refrain from using AI in the creative pipeline, aligning with the studio’s belief that AI could threaten jobs for voice actors, artists, and other creatives.
Indeed, Join Us features a six‑kilometre‑square map that was entirely hand‑crafted, and its 15,000 voice lines were recorded by real actors. This dedication to human‑made content underscores the studio’s philosophy that authenticity and artistic intent cannot be fully replicated by algorithms.
Dietsch highlights another advantage of game development over film: immediacy. In cinema, a concept can take years to move from script to screen, often requiring the approval of high‑profile talent and studios before production even begins. In contrast, a game idea can be prototyped within hours, allowing creators to iterate rapidly and see tangible results the same day. This rapid feedback loop fuels the creative energy at Wolf Haus and keeps the team motivated.
While film production remains heavily front‑loaded—requiring extensive pre‑production, casting, and financing—games offer a more democratized pathway. "Anyone could technically make a movie with a backyard camera, but without big names or distribution, success is unlikely. With games, the barriers are lower; you don’t need an A‑list actor or director to reach an audience," Wendschuh notes.
This accessibility aligns with the studio’s mission to empower a small, passionate team to craft experiences that feel as grand as any blockbuster. Reflecting on his childhood, Dietsch recalls that his love for both mediums began with a simple coin toss at age six: a camera for Christmas versus a programming calculator. That early fascination with storytelling, whether through film or interactive play, has guided his career. "Whether you’re making a movie or a game, you’re trying to give someone an experience, tell a story, and engage them.
The medium changes, but the core purpose remains the same," he concludes. In summary, Wolf Haus Games demonstrates that a tightly knit, technically proficient team—backed by strategic investors and a clear creative vision—can produce a large‑scale, high‑quality game without relying on generative AI or massive staffing. Join Us stands as a testament to the power of Hollywood‑inspired storytelling, indie‑film resourcefulness, and a relentless commitment to handcrafted design, all delivered by a twelve‑person core crew that continues to push the boundaries of what a small studio can achieve.