Walking the bustling corridors of Gamescom, you’ll instantly recognize the massive, eye‑catching booths belonging to industry giants such as Capcom, Xbox, Sega, EA, Ubisoft and the like. This year, however, a sizeable portion of Halls 6 and 7 is dominated by a name that most attendees probably haven’t heard before: 4Divinity. "It’s enormous by any standard," says Philip Doust, director of 4Divinity’s UK arm, when describing the publisher’s Gamescom footprint. The company is presenting six titles in the closed‑door B2B zone, five of those in dedicated trailer showcases, and four on the public B2C floor across two separate stands.
The larger of the two occupies roughly 800 square metres. Doust emphasizes that the ambition extends beyond sheer size to the overall spectacle. "We’ve hired one of the top booth builders at Gamescom and left no stone unturned," he adds. One of the most striking installations is for the 80s‑inspired RPG *Showa American Story*.
The set recreates a Hollywood‑hill landscape 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 fully stocked diner that visitors can walk into to try the game. It’s meant to be an immersive experience," Doust explains.
When pressed about the cost, Doust refuses to quote an exact number, calling it "crass" to do so, but he confirms that the investment runs into the millions of dollars. "The scale of our footprint alone shows the level of commitment.
It signals how seriously we’re taking the Western market—a stance not every Chinese‑origin company adopts or even knows how to execute." The reason many have never encountered 4Divinity, despite its deep pockets, lies in its corporate lineage. The publisher is part of Singapore‑based GCL Global Holdings, a conglomerate that also owns an imitation‑diamond jewellery brand.
GCL’s roots are in physical game distribution through Epicsoft, a business that has operated for nearly two decades. While physical media remains a component of GCL’s revenue, Doust acknowledges the sector’s decline, especially after recent announcements from Sony about the future of disc‑based releases. "We’ll keep producing discs as long as Sony supports them, but we recognise the trend is moving toward digital," he says.
To offset the shrinking physical market, GCL created 4Divinity 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 formidable challenge. Their breakthrough came with *Atomic Heart*, which performed strongly in the Chinese market, followed by a similar success with *Stalker 2*.
However, those titles 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 explains.
The company began signing Chinese‑developed games for worldwide release even before he joined in late 2024. At that time, the slate comprised a handful of smaller 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 scaling phase. All of the games share common characteristics: they are primarily single‑player experiences lasting 15‑20 hours, priced in the mid‑tier range.
This focus was not pre‑planned but emerged as a coherent strategy targeting the so‑called "squeezed middle" of the market—a niche also pursued by US‑based ProbablyMonsters. Doust believes this segment reflects current player preferences. "Most gamers don’t have the time or desire to invest 200 hours into a live‑service title.
An $80 AAA game is reserved for a few blockbuster franchises, but many players are willing to spend $40‑$50 on a well‑crafted single‑player adventure." Developing such games is expensive, whether in China or the West. Production budgets typically range from $5 million to $20 million, meaning a title must sell roughly a million copies just to break even. Discoverability is a major hurdle, and many publishers shy away from this risk.
4Divinity’s differentiation goes beyond pricing. Every title on display at Gamescom is a brand‑new intellectual property, both for Chinese and Western audiences. Larger studios tend to avoid betting on multiple new IPs simultaneously, preferring the safety of established franchises.
Doust notes that the AAA sector has become increasingly risk‑averse, turning into a franchise‑centric business unless a developer already possesses a proven series. The turning point for 4Divinity’s global ambitions was the distribution of *Black Myth: Wukong*. GCL handled the physical PS5 distribution worldwide and acted as the publisher in Taiwan, leveraging its Singapore base to bridge the gap for Game Science, a Chinese developer lacking the infrastructure to manage global logistics. The success of *Wukong* highlighted a broader opportunity: since China lifted its console ban in 2016, many Chinese studios have begun creating console and PC titles aimed at both domestic and overseas markets.
According to a Chinese tax filing, *Wukong* cost just over 300 million yuan (approximately $44.6 million) to develop, yet it sold 30 million copies, delivering a substantial profit margin. Doust emphasizes that development costs in China are considerably lower and that Chinese gamers are highly price‑sensitive. This economic reality shapes 4Divinity’s approach: offering high‑quality experiences at a price point that appeals to cost‑conscious consumers while still delivering value to Western players. Doust’s overarching mission is to match Western demand for fresh, affordable experiences with the supply of Chinese developers who can produce them efficiently.
"When I started working with Jacky Choo, GCL’s chairman, I asked whether we could find thematic common ground between East and West. Themes like loyalty, trust, defiance and revenge are universal.
By tailoring the marketing message to each region while keeping the core creative assets the same, we can bridge the cultural gap," he explains. In practice, this cross‑border strategy often results in an 80/20 sales split: the majority of units sell in China, with a smaller but significant portion moving abroad.
*Wukong* exemplified this, selling 20 million copies in China and around three to four million elsewhere. Doust hopes to shift the balance toward a 60/40 split, which would dramatically increase total unit sales and potentially position a title as one of the best‑selling games of all time relative to its modest development budget. To illustrate the bidirectional flow, 4Divinity recently added *Guns Of Eschaton*—developed by Eschatology Entertainment, a Cyprus‑based studio founded by a former Wargaming employee—to its roster. The company launched the game’s promotion first in China by debuting it at Bilibili World, a massive anime and pop‑culture expo in Shanghai.
This early exposure generated a groundswell of interest, making China the second‑largest wishlist market after the United States. The massive Gamescom presence therefore mirrors this dual‑market strategy. By showcasing its titles in Cologne shortly after a ChinaJoy debut in Shanghai, 4Divinity aims to generate simultaneous buzz in both regions rather than waiting for Chinese traction to trickle westward. Doust sees Gamescom as a western coming‑out party, a chance to consolidate multiple game campaigns into a single, high‑impact event.
"If we’re using Gamescom to introduce our portfolio and ourselves to the West, why not go big?" he concludes.