The trailer for Join Us first appeared during the Xbox Showcase in June, giving viewers a glimpse of a darkly humorous cooperative cult simulator. In the clip, robed followers charge on pigs while brandishing machine guns, and the sequence culminates with a terrifying image of colossal, Cthulhu‑like tentacles. One detail that didn’t make the final edit was the infamous "snake gun," a weapon that, according to Joe Dietsch—CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games—originated from a spontaneous suggestion by a team member’s child.
"His son asked, ‘What would a snake gun look like?’ We had a rapid‑prototyping tool, so within half an hour I built a gun that actually fires snakes. The kid was blown away, and the weapon stayed in the game," Dietsch recalls.
That anecdote encapsulates the chaotic, improvisational spirit that defines Join Us. The title is an open‑world sandbox survival experience where players can recruit followers—or invite friends in co‑op mode—to join a 1970s‑style cult. The game’s design philosophy mirrors the studio’s broader approach: a heavy emphasis on technology that lets a small crew achieve a scope normally reserved for much larger teams.
Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, summed it up succinctly: "We wanted to be disruptors. We told ourselves we could build a AAA‑level experience with just twelve people, and everyone else thought we were crazy." The team’s confidence stems from a background in low‑budget, high‑impact productions. "We come from indie film," Abbott says, "and we’re used to punching well above our weight." After a marathon of 80 pitch meetings, Wolf Haus finally secured equity financing from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, both of which took stakes in the studio. The founders’ Hollywood connections run deep.
Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson, son of Mel Gibson, who later co‑founded Wolf Haus 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 was born when Dietsch began tinkering with Unreal Engine after discovering it was freely downloadable.
"I’d loved games for as long as I’d watched movies, but the barrier to actually creating something felt huge," he explains. Using YouTube tutorials, he built a few modest prototypes before deciding to chase a larger vision: a doomsday cult simulator that fused survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics.
He created a proof‑of‑concept demo, ran it past Abbott, and the pair presented it to Dooma, the company that would later become a key partner. Dooma Wendschuh, Wolf Haus’s chief financial officer and narrative director, entered the video‑game arena after a career in film production and screenwriting. In the early 2000s he founded Sekretagent Productions, providing narrative work for titles like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins.
Later, he launched several tech ventures, most notably the cannabis‑formulation firm Ebbu, which sold for roughly C$430 million (about $330 million USD). After the sale, 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 when he saw Dietsch’s demo and was instantly impressed. Wendschuh then recruited Reid Schneider—former Warner Bros. Games VP and current head of Raccoon Logic, the studio behind Journey to the Savage Planet—as a strategic advisor. Schneider brought in Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, a former Ubisoft Montreal programmer, to serve as chief technology officer.
With this core team in place, the next hurdle was funding, which proved difficult during the industry downturn of 2023‑24. After initial outreach, the studio signed with CAA (Creative Artists Agency) in Los Angeles, refined their pitch, and eventually closed a seed round with Lifelike Capital and Krafton. The partnership with CAA, which also represents titles like 007: First Light, proved crucial.
"Derek Douglas, our agent at CAA, had represented me for twelve years in games and even ran the video‑game department at William Morris," Wendschuh notes. This pedigree helped the studio secure the capital needed to continue building. What truly sets Join Us apart is the way it is being built: a full‑scale, high‑fidelity open world created by just thirteen full‑time staff members. Dietsch emphasizes that the team deliberately kept the group small to preserve a collaborative atmosphere where everyone can influence creative decisions.
To make such an ambitious project feasible, the studio invested heavily in custom tooling from the outset. "Any system in the game has to be scalable and debuggable by a single person," he says. "We spent the first year simultaneously designing gameplay and building the internal tools that would let that gameplay scale across a massive map without the project collapsing under its own weight." The equity funding model gave Wolf Haus the runway to perfect these tools. "Krafton and Lifelike invested directly into the company, and we used those funds to self‑finance the development," explains Wendschuh.
"We’re now adding a small amount of project finance for marketing, but the core development was covered by the equity partners." Because the investors own equity, they share the studio’s goal of increasing enterprise value, which aligns with Wolf Haus’s philosophy of building reusable tools. Whenever the team encounters a technical roadblock, they develop a bespoke solution rather than outsourcing or relying on generic middleware.
This approach may slow individual milestones but enables a tiny team to produce a game of this magnitude. When asked about generative AI, the studio’s answer is unequivocal: they do not employ it for any creative tasks.
"We believe a game needs a human touch," says Dietsch. "Turning development over to an AI would defeat the reason we get up every morning. We may use AI for mundane tasks like calendar management, but never for design, art, or writing." Krafton, despite branding itself as an "AI‑first" company, actually required Wolf Haus to avoid generative AI in the creative pipeline.
This mirrors a similar stance taken by Neon Giant, another Krafton‑owned studio, which publicly denied using AI for its projects. Both companies appear intent on preserving human‑crafted content, especially in areas like voice acting and artwork.
Indeed, Join Us boasts a six‑kilometre‑square map that was handcrafted by the team, and its 15,000 voice lines were recorded by real actors—an effort Dietsch describes as essential even for an indie title. "We wanted every word to be spoken by a person, not a synthetic voice," he asserts. Dietsch also reflects on the contrast between filmmaking and game development. In film, an idea can take years to materialise, requiring countless approvals and the involvement of high‑profile talent.
In games, an inspiration 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, highlighting the immediacy that fuels his passion.
Wendschuh adds that movies are heavily front‑loaded with intense, costly production phases, while games have a more distributed risk profile. "Anyone can shoot a backyard movie, but without star power or distribution it’s unlikely to break out. With games, the gatekeepers are fewer, so a small, talented team can reach a global audience without A‑list names," he explains.
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 boiled down to a coin toss and a Christmas camera," Dietsch reminisces. "Whether you’re crafting a film or a game, you’re aiming to engage an audience, tell a story, and create an experience. The tools change, but the heart of the work stays the same."