Why an Unknown Publisher Is Investing Millions in Its Gamescom Showcase

Strolling through Gamescom, you’ll quickly notice that the most eye‑catching, expansive booths belong to household names—Capcom, Xbox, Sega, EA, Ubisoft, and the like. This year, however, a sizable portion of Halls 6 and 7 is being occupied by a company most attendees probably haven’t heard of: 4Divinity.

"It’s massive by any metric," says Philip Doust, director of 4Divinity’s UK arm, describing the publisher’s Gamescom footprint. The firm is presenting six titles in the closed‑door B2B zone, five of them in dedicated trailer showcases, and four titles on the public floor across two separate stands, the larger of which covers roughly 800 square metres. The ambition isn’t limited to square footage; Doust stresses that the visual spectacle is equally important.

"We’ve hired one of the top booth builders at Gamescom and left no stone unturned," he explains. One of the highlighted experiences is the 1980s‑style RPG *Showa American Story*. The booth recreates a Hollywood‑Hills‑like landscape—rebranded as Neo Yokohama Hills in the game’s alternate timeline where Japan governs the United States. "We built a seven‑metre‑tall Golden Gate Bridge adorned with Japanese lanterns, and a fully stocked diner that visitors can walk into to try the game.

It’s all about immersion," Doust adds. When asked about the cost, Doust is vague but emphatic: "I can’t disclose exact numbers—it would be crass—but we’re talking millions of dollars. The sheer size of our presence shows we’re serious about cracking the Western market, something not every Chinese‑based company attempts or knows how to do." So why might the name 4Divinity be unfamiliar despite such a lavish spend?

The publisher is part of a broader Singapore‑based conglomerate, GCL Global Holdings, which also owns a faux‑diamond jewellery line. GCL’s roots lie in physical game distribution through a company called Epicsoft, a business that has operated for nearly two decades.

Doust acknowledges that the physical‑media market is under pressure, especially after recent Sony announcements, but notes that GCL will continue disc‑based distribution as long as Sony supports it. "We recognize it’s a declining segment, so we needed a digital‑first growth engine," he says.

Enter 4Divinity, launched in 2022 as a co‑publisher helping Western developers bring titles to Southeast Asia. Doust points out that finding a Western game that resonates in China is a tall order. The company succeeded with *Atomic Heart*, which performed strongly in the Chinese market, and later with *Stalker 2*.

However, those successes were outliers rather than a sustainable model. "For a Nasdaq‑listed group like GCL, we needed a globally scalable publishing strategy," Doust explains. Consequently, 4Divinity began signing Chinese‑developed games for worldwide release. By the time Doust joined in late 2024, the pipeline already included a handful of indie projects and the ambitious *Showa American Story*.

Today the portfolio has swelled to eight games slated for launch over the next two years, marking a rapid expansion phase. The current slate shares several common traits: all titles are primarily single‑player experiences, offering roughly 15‑20 hours of gameplay and priced in the mid‑tier range.

This focus wasn’t pre‑planned but emerged organically as a strategic sweet spot. Doust likens it to the “squeezed middle” of the market—a segment also pursued by US‑based ProbablyMonsters. "Players today don’t want to commit 200 hours to a live‑service game, nor can they justify paying $80 for a single title. A $40‑$50 price point for a well‑crafted single‑player adventure feels right," he says.

Developing such games costs between $5 million and $20 million, regardless of whether the studio is in China or the West. Adding marketing, localisation, and distribution expenses means a title often needs to sell around a million copies just to break even—a daunting target given today’s discoverability challenges.

4Divinity’s approach diverges from larger publishers in another key way: every game it showcases at Gamescom is a brand‑new intellectual property. Even in China, many of these titles are debut releases, and in the West they are completely unknown. Larger studios tend to avoid betting on untested IPs, especially as development costs soar and AAA publishers become increasingly franchise‑centric.

Only a handful of emerging Chinese studios are willing to take such risks. The turning point for 4Divinity, according to Doust, was the handling of *Black Myth: Wukong*. GCL managed the game’s physical PS5 distribution worldwide and acted as publisher in Taiwan.

Because the developer, Game Science, is a Chinese company, it lacked the infrastructure to handle global logistics, and 4Divinity filled that gap from its Singapore hub. The success of *Wukong* highlighted a broader opportunity: since China lifted its console ban in 2016, many Chinese developers who had been working abroad have returned home, forming new console and PC studios.

Doust notes that development costs in China are considerably lower—*Wukong* reportedly cost about 300 million yuan (roughly $44.6 million) yet sold 30 million copies, delivering a substantial profit. Chinese gamers are also highly price‑sensitive, reinforcing 4Divinity’s strategy of offering affordable, high‑quality experiences.

Doust believes there is a “massive drought of supply” for Western audiences who still crave fresh, reasonably priced single‑player games. His mission is to bridge that gap by matching Western demand for novel experiences with Chinese developers’ ability to produce them cost‑effectively. He explains his philosophy: "When I started working with Jacky Choo, the GCL chairman, I asked whether we could find universal themes that resonate across East and West—loyalty, revenge, defiance. If we market the same asset with a different cultural lens, we can appeal to both markets.

No one has done this at scale yet." Even without an aggressive marketing push, games tend to cross borders. Doust calls this the “do‑nothing” model: the title is marketed primarily in China, creating a ripple effect that generates modest sales abroad.

*Wukong* exemplified this, selling about 20 million copies in China and 3‑4 million elsewhere—an 80/20 split. Doust hopes to improve that ratio to 60/40 through deliberate cross‑border campaigns, which could dramatically increase total unit sales. The company is already testing this two‑way approach.

Its only non‑Chinese‑origin game, *Guns Of Eschaton*, was developed by Eschatology Entertainment, a Cyprus‑based studio founded by a former Wargaming employee. After announcing the title, 4Divinity immediately showcased it at Bilibili World in Shanghai—an early‑stage move no Western publisher typically makes. The resulting buzz made China the second‑largest wishlist market for the game after the United States. Thus, the massive Gamescom presence mirrors this dual‑market strategy.

4Divinity’s titles will appear in Cologne just weeks after a ChinaJoy debut in Shanghai, allowing the publisher to launch simultaneously in both regions rather than playing catch‑up after a Chinese hit. Gamescom serves as the Western “coming‑out party,” consolidating multiple game launches into one high‑visibility event. As Doust puts it, "If we’re using Gamescom to introduce our portfolio to the West, why not go big?"