Why an Unknown Publisher Is Investing Millions in Its Gamescom Showcase

Walking through the bustling corridors of Gamescom, the most 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 many attendees may not recognize: 4Divinity. "It's massive by any measure," says Philip Doust, director of 4Divinity’s UK arm, describing the publisher’s Gamescom footprint. The company will showcase six titles in the closed‑door B2B area, five of those in dedicated trailer showcases, and four on the public show‑floor across two separate stands, the larger of which spans roughly 800 square metres.

The ambition goes beyond sheer size; Doust emphasizes the level of spectacle involved. "We’ve hired one of the top booth‑builders at Gamescom and spared no expense on the construction," he notes.

One of the highlighted experiences is for the 1980s‑inspired RPG *Showa American Story*. The booth recreates a Hollywood‑hills‑type landscape that, within the game’s alternate timeline, has been renamed Neo Yokohama Hills, a world where Japan governs the United States.

"We built a seven‑metre‑high Golden Gate Bridge adorned with Japanese lanterns, and a fully stocked diner that visitors can walk into to try the game. It’s all designed to be immersive," Doust adds.

When pressed about the cost, Doust is vague but clear: "I can’t quote exact numbers – that would be crass – but we’re talking millions of dollars of investment. The scale of our footprint alone shows the level of commitment. It reflects how seriously we’re taking the Western market, something not every Chinese‑based company chooses to do or even knows how to execute." The reason many have never heard of 4Divinity, despite its hefty spend, lies in its corporate lineage. The publisher is part of Singapore‑based GCL Global Holdings, a conglomerate that also owns an imitation‑diamond jewellery business.

GCL’s roots are in physical game distribution through a company called Epicsoft, which has operated for nearly two decades. Doust acknowledges that physical distribution is a shrinking segment, especially after recent announcements from Sony, but it remains a core part of the group’s revenue as long as discs are still being produced.

Recognising the decline, GCL pivoted toward digital‑first publishing, giving rise to 4Divinity. Launched in 2022, the venture initially acted as a co‑publisher for Western developers seeking entry into Southeast Asian markets. Doust explains the difficulty of finding a Western title that can thrive in China, citing *Atomic Heart* as a rare success, followed by *Stalker 2*. Those wins were outliers, prompting GCL to pursue a broader, globally‑oriented publishing model.

By late 2024, before Doust joined, 4Divinity had already signed a handful of titles, including a few indie projects and the ambitious *Showa American Story*. Since then the portfolio has expanded to eight games slated for release over the next two years, marking a period of rapid growth. All of the titles share common traits: they are primarily single‑player experiences lasting 15‑20 hours, positioned at a mid‑tier price point. This focus on the "squeezed middle" of the market mirrors a strategy employed by U.S.

studio ProbablyMonsters. Doust believes this segment captures what many gamers currently desire: "People don’t have time for 200‑hour live‑service games. The $80 blockbuster is reserved for a handful of titles, but a $40‑$50 single‑player adventure is something most players are willing to invest in." Developing such games is expensive, regardless of geography.

Doust estimates production budgets between $5 million and $20 million, meaning a title must sell roughly a million copies just to break even – a challenging target given today’s discoverability issues. To mitigate risk, 4Divinity is targeting the AA tier, where development costs are lower but quality remains high.

Another differentiator is the emphasis on brand‑new intellectual property. Doust notes that every game on display at Gamescom is a fresh IP, even in China where many titles are already known. In the West, it’s even more striking: larger publishers shy away from betting on multiple new IPs because AAA development has become franchise‑driven and risk‑averse.

4Divinity, by contrast, is willing to showcase six brand‑new titles simultaneously. The turning point for the company, 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, leveraging its Singapore base to bridge the gap for the Chinese developer Game Science. The success of *Wukong* highlighted a broader opportunity: after China lifted its console ban in 2016, many Chinese studios that had been working abroad returned home, forming new console and PC development houses.

*Wukong* reportedly cost just over 300 million yuan (about $44.6 million) to develop and sold 30 million copies, delivering a substantial profit margin. Doust points out that production costs in China are considerably lower and that Chinese gamers are highly price‑sensitive, shaping 4Divinity’s regional strategy. He argues that while major Western publishers have retreated from mid‑budget, narrative‑driven games for financial reasons, consumer appetite for such experiences remains strong, creating a “massive drought of supply.” 4Divinity’s mission, therefore, is to connect Western demand for affordable, self‑contained experiences with the supply of Chinese developers who can produce them at lower cost.

Doust’s thesis, formed with GCL chairman Jacky Choo, is to find universal themes – loyalty, trust, defiance, revenge – and market the same game with different cultural lenses to resonate in each region. He believes few have executed this cross‑cultural approach effectively. In practice, the company often adopts a “do‑nothing” model: it markets a game primarily in China, allowing a ripple effect to generate sales abroad.

*Wukong* exemplified this, selling 20 million copies in China and 3‑4 million elsewhere – an 80/20 split. Doust hopes to improve that ratio to 60/40 through more deliberate cross‑border marketing, envisioning a scenario where a single title could become one of the best‑selling games of all time relative to its modest development budget.

The strategy works both ways. 4Divinity’s only non‑Chinese‑developed title at present is *Guns of Eschaton*, created by Eschatology Entertainment, a new studio based in Cyprus with roots in the *World of Tanks* developer Wargaming.

The company launched the game’s promotion in China first, debuting it at Bilibili World in Shanghai – a move rare for Western publishers at such an early stage. The early buzz propelled China to become the second‑largest wishlist market for the title after the United States.

The massive Gamescom presence is essentially a Western showcase of this dual‑market approach. 4Divinity plans to roll out its games in Cologne shortly after they appear at ChinaJoy in Shanghai, ensuring simultaneous exposure in both territories rather than waiting for a Chinese hit to trickle westward. Doust sees Gamescom as a coming‑out party for the publisher in the West, allowing it to consolidate multiple campaigns into one high‑impact event. "If this is a 4Divinity portfolio play, where we want to introduce the games and ourselves to the West, why not go big?" he concludes.