Strolling through Gamescom, the massive, eye‑catching booths are usually attached to household names – Capcom, Xbox, Sega, EA, Ubisoft, and the like. This year, however, a sizable portion of Halls 6 and 7 will be dominated by a brand most attendees probably haven’t heard of: 4Divinity. "It’s gigantic by any measure," says Philip Doust, director of 4Divinity’s UK arm, describing the publisher’s Gamescom footprint. The company is showcasing six titles in the closed‑door B2B zone, five of which will appear in the adjoining trailer presentations, and four will be displayed on the public floor across two separate stands.
The larger of these spans roughly 800 square metres. 4Divinity isn’t just betting on size; it’s also pulling out all the stops on spectacle. "We’ve hired one of the top booth‑building firms at Gamescom," Doust notes. "No expense has been spared." Take the area dedicated to the 1980s‑inspired RPG *Showa American Story*.
The set recreates the Hollywood Hills, re‑imagined as “Neo‑Yokohama Hills” in an alternate timeline where Japan governs the United States. "We built a seven‑metre‑tall Golden Gate Bridge adorned with Japanese lanterns," Doust explains. "There’s a diner you can walk into and start playing.
It’s all very immersive." When Doust says no expense has been spared, he means it. "I can’t reveal exact numbers – that would be crass – but we’re talking millions of dollars of investment," he says.
"Just the sheer footprint makes it clear we’re playing at that level. It shows how seriously we’re treating the Western market, something not every Chinese‑owned company does or even knows how to do." That statement hints at why the name 4Divinity may be unfamiliar despite its deep pockets. The publisher sits under the umbrella of Singapore‑based GCL Global Holdings, a conglomerate that also owns a faux‑diamond jewellery line.
GCL’s roots lie in a physical‑distribution business called Epicsoft, which has been operating for nearly two decades. "Physical distribution is still a sizable part of the group’s revenue, and we’ll keep it as long as Sony continues to produce discs," Doust says, noting the recent announcements from Sony that have shaken the market.
"But we recognise that disc‑based distribution is a declining segment. If that were the core of our business, we’d have to pivot to digital," Doust adds.
Enter 4Divinity, launched in 2022 as a co‑publisher helping Western developers bring their games to Southeast Asia. "Finding a Western title that truly resonates in Asia – especially China – is incredibly difficult," Doust explains.
"We managed it with *Atomic Heart*, which performed strongly in China, and then repeated the feat with *Stalker 2*. Yet those successes were outliers." In other words, neither the distribution arm nor the co‑publishing side could deliver the growth GCL, a Nasdaq‑listed firm, needed. "From a growth perspective we had to become a global publisher," Doust says.
Consequently, 4Divinity began signing Chinese‑developed games for worldwide release. This effort started before Doust arrived in late 2024 – the company had already secured a handful of smaller indie titles and the ambitious *Showa American Story*.
Since then the portfolio has swelled to eight games slated for launch over the next two years, marking a period of rapid expansion. All of the titles share common traits: they are primarily single‑player experiences, run about 15‑20 hours, and sit in the mid‑tier price range. This wasn’t a pre‑planned formula, but it has solidified into a clear strategy aimed at the “squeezed middle” of the market – a niche also being explored by US‑based ProbablyMonsters. "That’s exactly what gamers want right now," Doust says.
"They don’t have the time to invest 200 hours in a live‑service game. The $80‑plus AAA titles are reserved for a few blockbuster franchises. But players are willing to spend $40‑$50 on a well‑crafted single‑player adventure." Even if many publishers shy away, Doust understands the economics. "These games cost between $5 million and $20 million to develop, whether in China or the West.
To break even you need to sell roughly a million copies, which is a tall order given today’s discoverability challenges," he explains. Targeting the AA segment is only one way 4Divinity is differentiating itself. "Everything you’ll see from us at Gamescom is brand‑new IP. Even in China, these are fresh titles, and in the West they’re completely unknown," he says.
Larger studios rarely gamble on a single new IP, let alone six, because the soaring cost of development has made AAA publishers extremely risk‑averse, turning many franchises into franchise‑only businesses. Only a few emerging Chinese studios are willing to take that leap.
The catalyst for 4Divinity’s global pivot, according to Doust, was *Black Myth: Wukong*. GCL handled the game’s physical PS5 distribution worldwide and acted as the publisher in Taiwan. "Game Science is a Chinese developer, and it’s not easy for them to navigate global distribution, so we stepped in from our Singapore base." *Wukong*’s triumph signaled a broader opportunity for GCL. Since China lifted its console ban in 2016, many Chinese developers who had been working abroad have returned home and formed console‑ and PC‑focused studios.
"*Black Myth* was one of the first to break out, but more and more studios are following suit," Doust notes. With two offices in China, GCL now has direct access to a burgeoning pool of talent creating compelling games at a fraction of Western development costs.
A Chinese tax filing suggests *Wukong* cost just over 300 million yuan (about $44.6 million) to produce, yet it sold 30 million copies in June of this year – a staggering profit margin. "Development costs are far lower in China, and Chinese gamers are very price‑sensitive," Doust says. This reality shaped 4Divinity’s regional strategy and, he believes, makes it easier to test those games in other markets.
He argues that while many major publishers have retreated from this type of mid‑budget single‑player space for financial reasons, player appetite for such experiences remains strong, creating a “massive drought of supply.” Doust’s mission is to bridge Western demand for fresh, affordable experiences with the supply that Chinese developers can provide. "When I started working with Jacky Choo, GCL’s chairman, my thesis was ‘what if we can find common themes between East and West?’ It’s not as hard as it sounds – concepts like loyalty, trust, defiance, revenge resonate everywhere. You market the same game with the same assets, but you tweak the messaging to suit each region’s cultural lens.
No one has done this effectively yet." Games will cross borders regardless, but Doust calls his approach the company’s “do‑nothing” business model: they market primarily in China, allowing a ripple effect to carry the title into the West, typically yielding an 80/20 sales split. That’s exactly what happened with *Wukong*: 20 million copies sold in China and three‑to‑four million elsewhere.
"Any Western publisher experiences a similar 80/20 split, with about 20 percent of sales coming from Asia, half of which is China," he says. The ambition for 4Divinity is to shift that balance to a 60/40 split between East and West.
"Not an unrealistic target, but it would dramatically increase unit sales," Doust remarks, noting that if *Wukong* had achieved a 60/40 split, it might have become the best‑selling game of all time relative to its modest development budget. The company envisions a two‑way cultural trade route – “a modern Silk Road” – moving games from East to West and vice‑versa. Currently, the only non‑Chinese title in its roster is *Guns of Eschaton*, created by Eschatology Entertainment, a new studio based in Cyprus founded by a former World of Tanks developer. The marketing push for that title began in China.
"The first thing we did after announcing the game was to showcase it at Bilibili World, Asia’s massive anime and pop‑culture convention in Shanghai. No Western studio does that so early in a campaign. That generated enough buzz that China is now the second‑largest wishlist market for the game, behind the US. It proves we can drive demand in either direction." Thus, the massive Gamescom presence mirrors this dual‑market strategy.
The games will appear in Cologne shortly after a showcase at ChinaJoy in Shanghai, allowing 4Divinity to launch titles simultaneously in both regions rather than waiting for Chinese traction to build before chasing Western audiences. Beyond promoting individual games, Gamescom serves as 4Divinity’s Western coming‑out party. "We could run separate campaigns for each title, and we do that to a degree, but Gamescom lets us consolidate everything into one high‑impact event.
We haven’t done much in the West yet, so this is our chance to make a splash," Doust says. "If this is a portfolio‑wide push to introduce our games and our brand to Western audiences, why not go big?"