The trailer for Join Us first appeared during the Xbox Showcase in June, offering a glimpse of a darkly humorous co‑op cult simulator where robed followers zip around on pigs, wield machine guns, and eventually confront colossal, Cthulhu‑like tentacles. One detail that didn’t make the final cut was the infamous "snake gun," a weapon that came into being thanks to a whimsical suggestion from a team member’s son. Joe Dietsch, the CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, recounted the moment: “The kid asked, ‘Can there be a snake gun?’ We had a rapid‑prototyping tool that let us spin up a new weapon in about half an hour, so I built one that fires snakes on the fly. He was thrilled, and the gun stayed in the game.” That anecdote perfectly captures the chaotic, improvisational spirit of Join Us, an open‑world sandbox survival title that lets players recruit followers—or friends in co‑op mode—to build a 1970s‑style cult.
It also illustrates why Wolf Haus has leaned heavily on technology to achieve a high‑fidelity experience with a remarkably small crew. Michael Abbott, the studio’s chief operating officer, summed up their philosophy: “We wanted to be disruptors.
We told ourselves we could deliver a AAA‑level product with just twelve people, even though everyone else thought it was impossible.” The team’s confidence stems from a background in indie filmmaking, where small budgets and lean crews are the norm. “We come from indie film,” Abbott explained, “so we’re used to punching far above our weight.” After 80 pitches, Wolf Haus finally secured equity financing from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, giving the studio the runway to develop Join Us without resorting to massive staffing. The founders’ Hollywood connections run deep.
Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson—son of Mel Gibson—and the two later 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, a production company founded by Chris Roberts before his transition to the Star Citizen universe. Abbott later produced movies such as Fight for ’84 starring Jamie Foxx. These film‑industry roots helped the team think cinematically while building a game.
Join Us originated from Dietsch’s early experiments in Unreal Engine. “Unreal was free to download, and I’d always loved games but felt blocked from creating anything myself,” he said.
He taught himself the engine through YouTube tutorials, built a few tiny prototypes, and eventually settled on the idea of a doomsday cult simulator—a mash‑up of survival mechanics, grindhouse aesthetics, and the storytelling flair of cinema. He produced a proof‑of‑concept demo, showed it to Abbott, and the duo began scaling the vision. The studio’s narrative director and CFO, Dooma Wendschuh, brings a unique blend of film and tech experience. He began as a screenwriter and producer before founding Sekretagent Productions, which supplied writing talent 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 (about $330 million USD). After cashing out, Wendschuh bought a remote restaurant on a tiny Canadian island, planning a quiet retirement.
Yet a call from his old Hollywood‑hill roommate, Michael Abbott, pulled him back into game development when he saw a demo that “blew his mind.” Wendschuh then recruited Reid Schneider—formerly a vice‑president at Warner Bros. Games and now head of Raccoon Logic, the studio behind Journey to the Savage Planet—as a strategic advisor.
Schneider brought on Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, an ex‑Ubisoft Montreal programmer, to serve as chief technology officer. With this core in place, the studio turned its attention to financing. Pitching began in the summer of 2023, a period marked by a broader industry downturn.
“People liked what we were building, but the market was tough,” Dietsch recalled. The team eventually partnered with CAA for representation, refined their pitch, and closed a seed round with Lifelike Capital and Krafton in 2024. The partnership with CAA proved valuable; the agency also represents titles such as 007: First Light, and its connections helped open doors to seasoned veterans like Schneider and Chartrand. Derek Douglas, Wolf Haus’s agent at CAA, had previously represented Wendschuh during his twelve‑year stint in game development, adding another layer of trust.
What truly sets Join Us apart is the way it’s being built: a 13‑person full‑time team that strives to keep every voice heard and every member involved in the creative process. Dietsch emphasized that early‑stage tool development was essential.
“If a system can’t be scaled or debugged by a single person, the whole project collapses,” he explained. The first year of development was therefore split between designing gameplay concepts and engineering robust, reusable tools that could handle the sprawling open‑world map without breaking under its own weight. Funding from Krafton and Lifelike allowed the studio to self‑finance the game’s development.
“The equity investors gave us the breathing room to perfect our tools,” Wendschuh noted. “They’re motivated to increase the studio’s enterprise value, so they support us in building the infrastructure we need, even if it slows short‑term progress.” The studio has also begun modest project‑finance for marketing, but the core development remains entirely funded by the equity partners. When asked about generative AI—a hot topic in the industry—both Dietsch and Wendschuh were unequivocal: the studio does not employ AI for creative work.
“We believe a human touch is vital,” Dietsch said. “We have a few AI subscriptions for mundane tasks like calendar management, but nothing that influences art, design, or writing.” Krafton, despite branding itself as an “AI‑first” company, also insisted that Wolf Haus refrain from using generative AI in the creative pipeline, aligning with the studio’s philosophy of preserving human‑crafted content.
The six‑kilometre‑square map in Join Us is hand‑built, and the game’s 15,000 voice lines were recorded by real actors, not synthetic voices. Dietsch finds the immediacy of game development refreshing compared with film. In cinema, an idea can take years to materialise, requiring countless approvals and the involvement of high‑profile talent to secure studio backing.
By contrast, a game concept can be prototyped within hours, placed in the engine, and iterated upon instantly. “You can have an idea at breakfast and see it in the engine by lunch,” he said, highlighting the creative agility that attracted many former filmmakers to interactive media. Wendschuh added that while film production is heavily front‑loaded—intense on set but dependent on securing big names and distribution—games have far fewer gatekeepers.
“Anyone can rent a camera and shoot a backyard movie, but without star power it’s hard to break through. In games, you don’t need an A‑list actor or director to succeed; the medium is more democratized.” Both founders trace their passion back to childhood. Dietsch recalled wanting to make either movies or games at age six, a decision that ultimately hinged on a Christmas gift—a camera. He taught himself programming on a TI‑83 calculator, laying the groundwork for a career that now blends storytelling across both mediums.
“Whether you’re making a film or a game, you’re delivering an experience, telling a story, and engaging an audience,” he concluded. This shared purpose continues to drive Wolf Haus as they push the boundaries of what a tiny, tool‑centric studio can achieve without leaning on generative AI, proving that creativity, tenacity, and a well‑crafted toolkit can still produce a game of epic scope.