Walking through Gamescom, the world’s largest gaming expo, you’ll instantly recognize the massive, eye‑catching booths belonging to household names—Capcom, Xbox, Sega, EA, Ubisoft, and the like. This year, however, a sizeable portion of Halls 6 and 7 is occupied by a brand most attendees probably haven’t heard of before: 4Divinity. "It’s enormous by any standard," says Philip Doust, director of 4Divinity’s UK operation, describing the company’s Gamescom footprint. The publisher is fielding six titles in the closed‑door B2B zone, five of which will appear in the associated trailer showcases, and four titles will be displayed on the public show‑floor across two separate stands.
The larger of those stands covers roughly 800 square metres. But the scale isn’t limited to square footage; the visual spectacle is equally ambitious.
"We’re working with one of the best booth‑builders at Gamescom," Doust adds. "No expense has been spared on that front." One of the most striking installations belongs to the 1980s‑style pop‑culture RPG *Showa American Story*.
The booth recreates a Hollywood‑Hills‑inspired landscape that the game re‑imagines as Neo‑Yokohama Hills, an alternate timeline where Japan rules the United States. "We built a seven‑metre‑tall Golden Gate Bridge adorned with Japanese lanterns," Doust explains. "We also constructed a diner that visitors can walk into and play the game on site. It’s all very experiential." When Doust says no expense was spared, he means it.
"I can’t quote exact numbers—that would be crass—but we’re talking millions of dollars of investment. The sheer size of our footprint should make it clear how seriously we’re approaching the Western market, something not every Chinese‑based company is willing or able to do." The reason many readers haven’t heard of 4Divinity, despite its ability to spend such sums, lies in its corporate lineage.
4Divinity is one of several gaming entities owned by Singapore‑based GCL Global Holdings, a conglomerate that also includes, surprisingly, an imitation‑diamond jewellery business. GCL’s roots are in physical distribution through a company called Epicsoft, a business that has operated for nearly two decades. While physical media is still a revenue stream—"as long as Sony continues to produce discs, we’ll keep it alive"—Doust acknowledges that the model is in decline and that the group needs a stronger digital focus. Enter 4Divinity, launched in 2022 as a co‑publisher helping Western developers bring their games to Southeast Asia.
Doust notes that finding a Western title that performs well in China is exceptionally challenging. The publisher succeeded with *Atomic Heart*, which saw a huge Chinese audience, and later with *Stalker 2*. However, those successes were outliers rather than a sustainable growth engine for a Nasdaq‑listed company like GCL.
"From a growth perspective, we needed a truly global publishing model," Doust says. Consequently, 4Divinity began signing Chinese‑developed games for worldwide release. By the time Doust joined in late 2024, the company already had a handful of titles—including a couple of indie projects and the ambitious *Showa American Story*—in its pipeline.
Today the portfolio has expanded to eight games slated for release over the next two years, marking a rapid growth phase. All of the titles share common characteristics: they are primarily single‑player experiences lasting 15‑20 hours, priced in the mid‑tier range.
This focus on the "squeezed middle" of the market mirrors strategies employed by other firms such as the U.S. company ProbablyMonsters. Doust believes this segment reflects current player desires.
"People don’t have the time or inclination to invest 200 hours in a live‑service title," he explains. "The $80 AAA blockbusters are reserved for a few flagship franchises, but there’s a healthy appetite for $40‑$50 single‑player games." Developing a game in this AA bracket typically costs between $5 million and $20 million, regardless of whether the studio is in China or the West. With additional operating expenses, a title often needs to sell around one million copies just to break even—a daunting target given today’s discoverability challenges. Doust points out that many publishers shy away from this risk, especially in the AAA space where studios have become franchise‑centric and risk‑averse.
In contrast, 4Divinity is betting on new intellectual property. "Everything you’ll see at Gamescom from us is brand‑new IP," he says.
"Even in China, these are fresh concepts, and they’re absolutely new to Western audiences as well." The catalyst for the publisher’s strategic pivot was the success of *Black Myth: Wukong*. GCL handled the game’s physical PS5 distribution worldwide and acted as the publisher in Taiwan.
Because Game Science, the Chinese developer behind *Wukong*, lacked the infrastructure to manage global logistics, 4Divinity stepped in from its Singapore base. The triumph of *Wukong* highlighted a broader opportunity: after China lifted its console ban in 2016, many Chinese developers who had been working abroad returned home and formed console‑ready studios. Doust notes that these studios can produce high‑quality games at a fraction of Western development costs.
*Wukong* reportedly cost just over 300 million yuan (about $44.6 million) to develop and has sold roughly 30 million copies, delivering a massive profit margin. Chinese development is cheaper, and Chinese gamers are highly price‑sensitive. This reality shaped 4Divinity’s approach: create affordable, high‑quality experiences in China and then export them to the West, where there remains a “massive drought of supply” for such mid‑range titles. Doust’s mission is to bridge the gap between Western demand for fresh, reasonably priced experiences and the supply side that Chinese studios are uniquely positioned to provide.
He elaborates on his personal thesis: "When I started working with Jacky Choo, the GCL chairman, I asked, ‘What if we can find common themes between East and West?’ It’s not as hard as it sounds—loyalty, trust, defiance, revenge—those are universal narratives. We can market the same game with different cultural lenses, tailoring the messaging to each region. No one has done that effectively at scale yet." Even without a dedicated cross‑border marketing effort, games tend to travel.
Doust calls this the "do‑nothing" business model: the publisher markets a game in China, a ripple effect carries it to the West, and the sales split typically ends up around 80/20 in favor of China. *Wukong* followed that pattern, selling 20 million copies in China and 3‑4 million elsewhere.
Doust believes that by actively pushing both directions, 4Divinity could shift the ratio to a more balanced 60/40, dramatically increasing overall sales. "If we could replicate Wukong’s success with a more intentional strategy, we might be looking at one of the best‑selling games of all time relative to its development budget," he says. The company’s cross‑border ambition is akin to a modern Silk Road, moving games east‑to‑west and west‑to‑east. Currently, the only non‑Chinese title in 4Divinity’s roster is *Guns Of Eschaton*, created by Eschatology Entertainment—a newly formed studio in Cyprus founded by a former Wargaming (World of Tanks) developer.
The marketing push for that game began in China, where the publisher debuted it at Bilibili World, Asia’s massive anime and pop‑culture convention in Shanghai. Doust notes that no Western publisher has ever launched a game at such an event so early in its lifecycle. The early exposure generated enough buzz that China became the second‑largest wishlist market for the title, trailing only the United States.
The massive Gamescom presence is essentially a Western showcase of the same strategy. 4Divinity’s games will appear in Cologne just weeks after they debuted at ChinaJoy in Shanghai, allowing the publisher to generate simultaneous momentum in both markets rather than chasing a post‑China success in the West. Doust emphasizes that Gamescom serves as the company’s “coming‑out party” to Western audiences.
While the publisher does run individual game campaigns, the trade show offers a chance to consolidate all of its announcements into one high‑impact event. "If this is a portfolio play to introduce our games and ourselves to the West, why not go big?" he concludes.