Strolling through Gamescom, the most expansive and elaborate booths are typically 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 occupied by a company most attendees probably don’t recognize: 4Divinity.
"By any measure, it’s massive," says Philip Doust, director of 4Divinity’s UK arm, describing the publisher’s Gamescom footprint. The firm will present six titles in the closed‑door B2B zone, five of those in the adjoining trailer showcases, and four on the public floor across two separate stands, the larger of which covers roughly 800 square metres. The ambition isn’t limited to size; the spectacle is equally grand. "We’ve hired one of the top booth builders at Gamescom and left no stone unturned," Doust adds.
One of the highlighted experiences, the 80s‑inspired RPG *Showa American Story*, recreates a Hollywood‑hills‑style set that the game re‑imagines as Neo‑Yokohama Hills, an alternate timeline where Japan governs the United States. "We built a seven‑metre‑high Golden Gate Bridge adorned with Japanese lanterns, and a diner you can walk into to start playing. It’s all about immersion," Doust explains.
When pressed about the cost, Doust refuses to give a precise figure, calling it "crass" to do so, but confirms that the investment runs into the millions. "The sheer scale of the space tells you how seriously we’re treating the Western market – something not every Chinese‑based publisher is prepared to do." The reason this name may be unfamiliar is that 4Divinity is just one arm of Singapore‑based GCL Global Holdings, a conglomerate that also owns, among other things, an imitation‑diamond jewellery business. GCL’s roots lie in physical game distribution through Epicsoft, a company that has been operating for nearly two decades. While physical distribution remains a part of the group’s revenue – "as long as Sony continues to produce discs," Doust notes – the business is undeniably in decline, prompting the group to shift focus toward digital operations.
4Divinity was launched in 2022 as a co‑publisher helping Western developers bring titles to Southeast Asia. Doust recounts that the first major success was *Atomic Heart*, which performed strongly in China, followed by *Stalker 2*. "Those were outliers," he says.
The company realised that occasional hits would not sustain the growth required of a Nasdaq‑listed entity. The answer, according to Doust, was to become a global publisher of Chinese‑made games.
Before Doust arrived in late 2024, the team had already signed a handful of titles, including a few indie projects and the ambitious *Showa American Story*. Since then the portfolio has swelled to eight games slated for release over the next two years, marking a rapid expansion 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 companies such as ProbablyMonsters in the United States. "Players today don’t want to commit 200 hours to a live‑service game," Doust observes. "An $80 blockbuster is reserved for a few marquee franchises, but many gamers are willing to spend $40‑50 on a polished single‑player adventure." Developing such games is expensive – typically $5‑20 million per title – regardless of geography.
To break even, a game must sell roughly a million copies, a daunting target given the crowded marketplace and discoverability challenges. 4Divinity’s approach diverges from larger studios in another key way: every title it showcases at Gamescom is a brand‑new IP, both for Chinese and Western audiences. "Big publishers rarely gamble on a single new IP, let alone six," Doust points out. The risk‑averse nature of AAA development has turned many studios into franchise factories, leaving little room for fresh concepts unless the developer already owns an established series.
The turning point for 4Divinity, according to Doust, was the distribution of *Black Myth: Wukong*. GCL handled the game’s physical PS5 rollout worldwide and acted as publisher in Taiwan, leveraging its Singapore base to bridge the gap for the Chinese developer Game Science. The success of *Wukong* highlighted a broader opportunity: since China lifted its console ban in 2016, many Chinese studios that had been working abroad have returned home, forming new console and PC development houses. *Wukong* reportedly cost around 300 million yuan (about $44.6 million) to develop and sold 30 million copies, delivering a substantial profit margin.
Doust notes that production costs in China are significantly lower than in the West, and Chinese gamers are highly price‑sensitive. This economic reality shapes 4Divinity’s strategy: acquire cost‑effective Chinese titles and introduce them to Western markets where demand for affordable, narrative‑driven experiences remains strong. His overarching thesis is to match Western appetite for fresh, reasonably priced experiences with the supply of Chinese developers capable of delivering them.
"What if we can find universal themes – loyalty, revenge, defiance – and market the same game with different cultural lenses?" he asks. He believes few have executed this cross‑cultural positioning effectively. Doust describes the traditional “do‑nothing” model where a publisher only markets a game in China, allowing a ripple effect to generate modest sales abroad – typically an 80/20 split favoring China.
*Wukong* followed this pattern, selling 20 million copies in China and 3‑4 million elsewhere. 4Divinity aims to shift that balance to a 60/40 split, which would dramatically increase overall unit sales and potentially make a title one of the best‑selling games of all time relative to its modest budget.
The company is also experimenting in the opposite direction, taking Western‑originated games into China. Their first non‑Chinese title, *Guns Of Eschaton*, developed by a Cyprus‑based studio founded by a former Wargaming employee, was launched at Bilibili World in Shanghai – an unprecedented early‑stage push for a Western game in the Chinese market. The move generated enough buzz to make China the second‑largest wishlist market for the title, behind the United States.
Thus, the colossal Gamescom presence is a physical manifestation of this dual‑direction strategy. By debuting its portfolio in Cologne shortly after a ChinaJoy showcase in Shanghai, 4Divinity hopes to generate simultaneous momentum in both regions rather than chasing a delayed Western wave after Chinese success.
Doust emphasizes that Gamescom serves as the company’s “coming‑out party” to the West, consolidating multiple game campaigns into one high‑visibility event. "If we’re using Gamescom to introduce our entire slate and ourselves to Western audiences, why not go big?" he concludes.