Palworld Developer Prioritizes Gamers in Hiring: CEO States Zero Steam Playtime Leads to Automatic Rejection

Pocketpair, the studio behind Palworld, has a unique hiring requirement: candidates must provide screenshots of their Steam profiles. According to CEO Takuro Mizobe, if you don’t have any gaming activity on Steam, your application won’t make it past the initial resume review.

In a recent discussion, Mizobe elaborated that they ask game designer applicants to analyze their most-played titles, breaking down game mechanics and discussing the design choices behind them. While candidates can also include playtime from PlayStation and Xbox, those with zero Steam games played will generally be passed over. Mizobe emphasizes the importance of familiarity with indie games, particularly those exclusive to Steam, as Pocketpair is now venturing into indie publishing following the success of Palworld.

John “Bucky” Buckley, Pocketpair’s head of publishing and communications, shared his own experience with this hiring approach. He recalled being questioned about his knowledge of games like Slay the Spire when he joined the team. Buckley highlighted that Pocketpair is fundamentally a company of gamers, a culture that the CEO is committed to maintaining, which is a privilege they enjoy due to their complete independence.