Strolling through Gamescom, the massive, eye‑catching booths are usually tied to household names – Capcom, Xbox, Sega, EA, Ubisoft, and the like. This year, however, a sizeable portion of Halls 6 and 7 is occupied by a company most visitors probably won’t recognize: 4Divinity.
"By any measure, it’s huge," 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 showcases, and four will be displayed on the public floor across two separate stands. The larger of those stands covers roughly 800 square metres.
Doust adds that the scale isn’t limited to square footage; the visual spectacle is equally ambitious. "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, the 80s‑inspired RPG *Showa American Story*, features a recreated Hollywood Hills set that the game reimagines as the 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 fully staffed diner that visitors can walk into to try the game. It’s all about immersion," Doust explains.
When pressed about the cost, Doust declines to give an exact figure, calling it "crass," but confirms that the investment runs into the millions. "The size of our footprint alone shows we’re committing resources at that level. It reflects how seriously we’re taking the Western market – something not every Chinese‑owned company does or even knows how to do." The reason many have never heard of 4Divinity is that it sits under the umbrella of 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, which has been in business for nearly two decades. While physical distribution remains a component of the group – "as long as Sony continues to produce discs," Doust says – the market is clearly in decline, prompting the need for a digital‑focused growth engine. Enter 4Divinity, launched in 2022 as a co‑publisher helping Western developers bring games to Southeast Asia.
Doust points out that finding a Western title that performs well in China is exceptionally difficult. The company succeeded with *Atomic Heart*, which saw strong sales in China, and later with *Stalker 2*. However, those successes were outliers rather than a sustainable model. "From a growth perspective, we needed a global publishing strategy," Doust says, noting that GCL, a Nasdaq‑listed firm, demands scalable revenue.
Since Doust joined in late 2024, 4Divinity has expanded its catalogue to eight games slated for release over the next two years. All of the titles share common traits: they are primarily single‑player experiences lasting 15–20 hours, priced in the mid‑tier range.
This focus on the so‑called “squeezed middle” of the market mirrors a similar approach being taken by US‑based ProbablyMonsters. Doust believes this segment hits a sweet spot for today’s gamers: "People don’t want to invest 200 hours into a live‑service game, and $80‑plus titles are reserved for a few blockbuster franchises.
But a $40‑$50 single‑player adventure is very appealing." Developing such games is costly – typically $5 million to $20 million per title – regardless of whether the studio is in China or the West. To break even, a game must sell roughly a million copies, a challenging target given today’s discoverability hurdles.
4Divinity’s strategy also diverges in its emphasis on brand‑new IP. "Everything you’ll see at Gamescom from us is a fresh property," Doust says.
Even in China, the titles are new to gamers, and in the West they are completely unknown. Larger publishers tend to avoid betting on multiple new IPs simultaneously, especially as development costs soar and AAA studios become risk‑averse, focusing on established franchises. The pivotal moment for 4Divinity, according to Doust, was the handling of *Black Myth: Wukong*.
GCL managed the game’s global physical PS5 distribution and acted as the publisher in Taiwan. Because the developer, Game Science, is a Chinese studio, it lacked the infrastructure to distribute worldwide, creating an opening for 4Divinity’s Singapore base to step in. *Wukong* demonstrated the untapped potential of Chinese developers now able to release console titles after the 2016 lifting of the console ban. Many Chinese studios that had been working for Western publishers returned home, forming their own console and PC teams.
The game reportedly cost around 300 million yuan (about $44.6 million) to develop and sold 30 million copies, delivering a massive profit margin. Doust notes that production costs in China are significantly lower and Chinese gamers are highly price‑sensitive, shaping 4Divinity’s regional approach.
He argues that while major Western publishers have retreated from mid‑budget single‑player projects for financial reasons, player appetite for such experiences remains strong, creating a “massive drought of supply.” His mission is to bridge Western demand for affordable, novel experiences with the supply of Chinese developers capable of delivering them at lower cost. "When I started working with Jacky Choo, GCL’s chairman, I asked, ‘What if we can find common themes between East and West?’ Themes like loyalty, revenge, defiance are universal. We can market the same asset with different cultural lenses," Doust explains, adding that few have executed this effectively.
Even without an active marketing push, games tend to cross borders. Doust calls this the “do‑nothing” model: the publisher markets primarily in China, which creates a ripple effect in the West, typically resulting in an 80/20 sales split (80 % in China, 20 % elsewhere). *Wukong* followed that pattern, selling 20 million copies in China and about three to four million internationally.
4Divinity hopes to improve that ratio to 60/40 through its cross‑border campaigns. "If we could replicate that shift, we might be looking at one of the best‑selling games of all time relative to its development budget," Doust muses. The company is also experimenting in the opposite direction. Its sole non‑Chinese title, *Guns Of Eschaton*, was developed by Eschatology Entertainment, a Cyprus‑based studio founded by a former Wargaming employee.
After announcing the game, 4Divinity took it to Bilibili World in Shanghai – a move no Western publisher typically makes so early in a campaign. The early exposure generated enough buzz that China became the second‑largest wishlist market after the United States. Thus, the massive Gamescom presence is a physical manifestation of this dual‑market strategy.
The games will debut in Cologne shortly after a showcase at ChinaJoy in Shanghai, allowing simultaneous exposure in both regions rather than a staggered rollout that would force the company to chase after a market that has already moved on. For 4Divinity, Gamescom is not just a platform to promote individual titles; it serves as a western coming‑out party for the entire portfolio. "We could run separate campaigns for each game, and we do some of that, but Gamescom lets us combine everything into one high‑impact event.
We haven’t done much in the West yet, so this is our chance to make some noise," Doust concludes, underscoring why the publisher is willing to invest millions into a single trade show.