Walking 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 is dominated by a company most visitors probably haven’t heard of: 4Divinity.
"It’s huge by any standard," says Philip Doust, director of 4Divinity’s UK arm, when describing the publisher’s Gamescom footprint. The firm is presenting six titles in the closed‑door B2B zone, five of which will appear in the associated trailer showcases, and four games will be displayed on the public floor across two separate stands. The larger of those stands covers roughly 800 square metres. But the scale is not limited to square footage; the company is also pulling out all the stops on production value.
"We’re working with one of the best booth builders at Gamescom and have spared no expense," Doust adds. One of the most striking displays belongs to the 1980s‑inspired RPG *Showa American Story*. The set recreates the Hollywood Hills—rebranded as the 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 meant to be a fully immersive experience," Doust explains.
When pressed about the cost, Doust is vague but clear: "I can’t give exact numbers—it would be crass—but we’re talking millions of dollars in investment. The sheer size of our footprint shows the level of commitment.
It signals how seriously we’re taking the Western market, something not every Chinese‑owned company does or even knows how to do." The reason many readers may not recognize 4Divinity is that it is one of several gaming subsidiaries under Singapore‑based GCL Global Holdings, a conglomerate that also owns an imitation‑diamond jewellery business. GCL’s roots lie in a physical‑distribution operation called Epicsoft, a business that has been running for nearly two decades. "Physical distribution is still a significant part of our group, and we’ll continue it as long as Sony allows us to produce discs," Doust says, acknowledging the sector’s decline but emphasizing its lingering importance.
Recognising the need to pivot toward digital, GCL launched 4Divinity in 2022 as a co‑publisher helping Western developers bring games to Southeast Asia. Doust notes that finding a Western title that resonates in China is exceptionally difficult. 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 growth engine for a Nasdaq‑listed company. "From a growth perspective we needed a truly global publishing model," Doust says. The shift meant signing Chinese‑developed games for worldwide release.
By the time Doust joined in late 2024, the pipeline already included a few indie projects and the ambitious *Showa American Story*. Since then the portfolio has expanded to eight titles slated for launch over the next two years, marking a rapid growth phase. All of the games share common traits: 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 a strategy pursued by U.S. studio ProbablyMonsters. Doust believes this segment captures current player sentiment: "People don’t have the time to invest 200 hours into a live‑service title.
The $80 AAA blockbuster is reserved for a handful of franchises, but many gamers are willing to spend $40‑$50 on a well‑crafted single‑player adventure." Developing such titles is costly—typically $5‑$20 million per game—whether in China or the West. With additional operating expenses, a game often needs to sell around a million copies just to break even, a target that is increasingly hard to achieve given discoverability challenges. 4Divinity’s approach also diverges in its emphasis on new intellectual property.
"Everything you’ll see at Gamescom is brand‑new IP, even in China. In the West, larger publishers are reluctant to bet on untested franchises; they prefer established series because development costs have skyrocketed and AAA has become a franchise‑driven business," Doust explains. This risk‑averse environment leaves space for smaller publishers to champion fresh ideas. The turning point for 4Divinity was the distribution of *Black Myth: Wukong*.
GCL handled the game’s physical PS5 distribution worldwide and acted as the publisher in Taiwan. Because the developer, Game Science, is a Chinese studio, it lacked the infrastructure to manage global logistics, and 4Divinity filled that gap from its Singapore base. *Wukong* illustrated the untapped potential of Chinese developers now able to release console titles after the 2016 ban lift. Many Chinese creators who had been working abroad returned home, forming new studios focused on console and PC development.
Doust points out that *Wukong* cost roughly 300 million yuan (about $44.6 million) to produce, yet it sold 30 million copies, delivering a massive profit margin. Lower development costs and price‑sensitive Chinese gamers shape 4Divinity’s strategy: the publisher aims to match Western demand for affordable, high‑quality experiences with the supply of cost‑effective Chinese productions.
Doust says his thesis, developed with GCL chairman Jacky Choo, is to find universal themes—loyalty, revenge, defiance—that resonate across cultures and then market the same game with tailored messaging for each region. He describes a “do‑nothing” business model where a game is primarily marketed in China, creating a ripple effect that generates modest sales abroad, typically an 80/20 split.
*Wukong* exemplified this, selling 20 million copies in China and 3‑4 million elsewhere. Doust hopes to shift that ratio to 60/40 through more aggressive cross‑border promotion, which could dramatically increase total unit sales. To illustrate the two‑way flow, 4Divinity recently added *Guns Of Eschaton*, a title developed outside China by a Cyprus‑based studio founded by a former Wargaming employee. The publisher launched the game first at Bilibili World in Shanghai—a move rarely seen from Western publishers at such an early stage.
The early exposure propelled China to become the second‑largest wishlist market behind the United States. The massive Gamescom presence is essentially a Western debut for 4Divinity’s strategy.
By showcasing its portfolio in Cologne shortly after a ChinaJoy appearance, the company aims to generate simultaneous buzz in both markets rather than waiting for a Chinese hit to trickle westward. Doust acknowledges that Gamescom serves as a “coming‑out party” for the publisher, allowing it to consolidate multiple game campaigns into one high‑impact event. "If we’re using Gamescom to introduce our portfolio and ourselves to the West, why not go big?" he concludes.