The trailer for Join Us first appeared during the Xbox Showcase in June, giving viewers a glimpse of a darkly humorous cooperative cult simulation. In the clip, robed followers zip around on pigs while wielding machine guns, culminating in a dramatic shot of colossal, Cthulhu‑like tentacles.
One element that didn’t make the final cut was the infamous snake gun, a quirky weapon that Joe Dietsch, the CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, says was inspired by a child’s off‑hand suggestion. "One of our team member’s son asked, ‘What would a snake‑gun look like?’ We had a rapid‑prototyping tool that let us spin up a new weapon in about thirty minutes, so I built it on the fly. The kid was thrilled, and the snake gun stayed in the game," Dietsch recalls.
That anecdote captures the chaotic, improvisational spirit that defines Join Us, an open‑world sandbox survival title where players can recruit followers—or friends in co‑op mode—to build a 1970s‑style cult. It also illustrates the studio’s technology‑first mindset, which has allowed a tiny crew to produce a high‑fidelity experience that would normally require a much larger workforce.
Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, sums up their ambition: “We set out to be disruptors. We told everyone we could deliver a AAA‑level game with just twelve people, and most people thought we were crazy.” The team’s confidence stems from a history of achieving big results on modest budgets. “We come from indie film backgrounds, so we’re used to punching well above our weight,” Abbott explains. After roughly eighty pitch meetings, Wolf Haus finally secured equity investment from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, giving the studio the financial runway to continue development.
Wolf Haus’s founders are steeped in Hollywood pedigree. Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson—son of Mel Gibson—who later co‑founded the studio. The two 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 he moved on to Star Citizen.
Abbott later produced films such as Fight for ’84 starring Jamie Foxx. The seed of Join Us sprouted when Dietsch began experimenting with Unreal Engine. "Unreal was free to download, and I’d always loved games but felt the barrier to creating my own was huge," he says.
He taught himself through YouTube tutorials, built a few modest prototypes, and eventually gravitated toward a doomsday‑cult concept that fused his love of survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics. He built a proof‑of‑concept demo, showed it to Abbott, and the idea quickly gained momentum. Dooma Wendschuh, Wolf Haus’s chief financial officer and narrative director, entered the picture after a career that straddles film and games. 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, 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 roommate Michael Abbott pulled him back into the industry.
Impressed by Dietsch’s demo, Wendschuh joined the effort, later recruiting former Warner Bros. Games VP Reid Schneider as a strategic advisor and Ubisoft Montreal veteran Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand as chief technology officer. Funding proved challenging amid a market downturn that began in 2023. The team’s first pitch round coincided with a slump, but persistence paid off.
After signing with CAA (Creative Artists Agency) and re‑pitching in 2024, Wolf Haus closed a seed round with Krafton and Lifelike Capital. Wendschuh credits the agency’s representation—also handling titles like 007: First Light—and the presence of seasoned veterans such as Schneider and Chartrand for opening doors. What truly sets Join Us apart is the way it is being built: a core staff of just thirteen full‑time developers.
Dietsch emphasizes that the small size is intentional, fostering an environment where “everyone has a voice, everyone touches the creative, and the game feels like a product of a tight‑knit group.” To make such an ambitious open‑world possible, the studio invested heavily in internal tooling from day one. "If a system exists in the game, it must be scalable and debuggable by a single person," Dietsch explains. The first year of development was therefore split between designing gameplay concepts and constructing the pipelines that would allow those concepts to scale across a six‑kilometre‑square map without collapsing under their own weight.
The equity‑funded model gave Wolf Haus the breathing room to perfect these tools. "Krafton and Lifelike’s capital financed the entire development, essentially making the game self‑funded," says Wendschuh. He adds that the investors’ interest in the studio’s enterprise value aligns with the team’s ethos of building reusable tools rather than quick‑fix hacks. While this approach can slow immediate progress, it enables a small crew to deliver a product that rivals larger studios.
In an industry increasingly buzzing about generative AI, Wolf Haus deliberately steers clear of it for creative work. "We don’t use any generative AI in the game’s creation because we believe a human touch is essential," Dietsch states.
Wendschuh concedes that the team uses AI for mundane tasks like calendar management and email drafting, but nothing that influences art, design, or narrative. Interestingly, Krafton—positioned as an "AI‑first" company—insisted that Wolf Haus remain AI‑free for creative processes, mirroring similar stances taken by other Krafton‑owned studios such as Neon Giant. The commitment to handcrafted content extends to the game’s world and voice work.
The entire six‑kilometre‑square map is manually built, and the 15,000 voice lines are performed by human actors, a point both Dietsch and Wendschuh stress as crucial for maintaining authenticity. Dietsch reflects on the contrast between filmmaking and game development. In cinema, an idea can take years to materialise, requiring countless approvals and the involvement of high‑profile talent before a studio greenlights production.
By contrast, a game concept can be prototyped within hours, allowing immediate iteration. "You can have an idea this morning, drop it into the engine, see it in action, and iterate right away," he says, highlighting the immediacy that excites him. Wendschuh adds that while film production is heavily front‑loaded—requiring a small number of A‑list directors or actors to secure financing—games have far fewer gatekeepers. "Anyone can rent a camera and shoot a backyard movie, but without star power or distribution it’s unlikely to break through.
With games, the barrier is lower; you don’t need an A‑list actor or director to achieve success," he notes. Both founders agree that storytelling is the common thread linking the two mediums.
Dietsch recalls his childhood fascination with both movies and games, saying, "Whether you’re making a film or a game, you’re trying to give someone an experience, tell a story, and engage them. The medium changes, but the creative impulse stays the same."