How do you nab a publishing deal? It’s a question that doesn’t have a singular answer. It depends on a myriad of factors (some of which—such as the current state of funding—might be outside of your control) but there are ways you can tip the odds in your favor.
During a recent chat with Pocketpair communications director and publishing manager John Buckley at Gamescom Asia x Thailand Game Show, we learned what sort of titles the company isn’t interested in signing, but we also heard how one pitch in particular won the Japanese company over immediately.
According to Buckley, Truckful developer MythicOwl fired over a stellar pitch deck and budget breakdown within hours of Pocketpair issuing a call for submissions on its website. The Polish studio’s approach to outlining precisely what it needed to develop and launch the adventure title convinced Buckley the dev team had a complete understanding of their product, costs, and target market.
You might think that’s a given—but you’d be dead wrong. Buckley explained MythicOwl’s method turned out to be the exception as opposed to the rule. Since officially signing Truckful at the beginning of 2025, Pocketpair has received reams of pitches, but scant few measured up.
“We opened a form on our website [to accept pitches] and Truckful was the very first pitch. It came in within the very first hour,” says Buckley. “It was the very first pitch that came in the door and it blew me away with how it was laid out. Not just the pitch itself—which is a whole art form—but they also had excel sheets showcasing month-by-month [budget] breakdowns.”
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Buckley explained the pitch was for all intents and purposes, perfect—so much so that it actually caused a bit of a panic.
“I turned to the guys in the office and said ‘we’re in big trouble, because how are we supposed to pick games if this is what it’s going to be like?’ but I can tell you, Truckful was one in a thousand.”
Following that exchange, we asked Buckley if Pocketpair and MythicOwl would be willing to share the pitch deck and budget breakdown to help other devs interested in courting publishers. They kindly obliged and now we can share both with you.
We’ve bundled together a few examples from MythicOwl’s budget spreadsheet for Truckful below (with numbers redacted) to show how the studio presented the cost of everything from dynamic obstacles, day-night setup, UI modules, console porting, story and location design, and much more. All pitch deck slides can also be found below.
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Game Developer attended Gamescom Asia x Thailand Game Show 2025 as a media partner, with flights and accommodation being covered by event organizers.