Strolling through Gamescom, you’ll quickly notice that the most eye‑catching booths belong to household names – Capcom, Xbox, Sega, EA, Ubisoft and the like. This year, however, a sizeable portion of Halls 6 and 7 is dominated by a brand most visitors probably haven’t heard of: 4Divinity.
"It’s massive by any measure," says Philip Doust, director of 4Divinity’s UK operation, describing the company’s Gamescom footprint. The publisher has secured six titles for the closed‑door B2B zone, five of which will appear in the associated 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. But the scale isn’t limited to square footage – the company is also pulling out all the stops on visual spectacle.
"We’re working with one of the top booth builders at Gamescom and have left no stone unturned," Doust explains. One of the most striking installations belongs to the 1980s‑inspired RPG *Showa American Story*. The set recreates the Hollywood Hills, re‑imagined as the “Neo Yokohama Hills” in an 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 experience the game.
It’s all about immersion," Doust adds. When asked about the cost, Doust is vague but candid: "I can’t quote exact numbers – that would be crass – but we’re talking millions of dollars.
The sheer size of our footprint makes it clear we’re investing at that level. It shows 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 a firm capable of such spending is that 4Divinity is part of a larger conglomerate, Singapore‑based GCL Global Holdings, which also owns an imitation‑diamond jewellery line.
GCL’s roots lie in physical game distribution through a company called Epicsoft, a business that has been operating for almost two decades. "Physical distribution is still a significant part of the group’s revenue, and we’ll continue it as long as Sony allows us to produce discs," Doust says, noting the recent uncertainty surrounding Sony’s console strategy. "But we recognise that disc‑based sales are a declining segment, so we needed a digital‑focused growth engine." Enter 4Divinity. Launched in 2022, the subsidiary initially acted as a co‑publisher for Western developers seeking entry into Southeast Asian markets.
"Finding a Western title that performs well in China is extremely challenging," Doust notes. The company succeeded with *Atomic Heart*, which sold strongly in China, and later replicated that success with *Stalker 2*.
However, those titles were outliers rather than a sustainable growth model. As a Nasdaq‑listed entity, GCL needed a more scalable revenue stream.
"From a growth perspective we had to move to global publishing," Doust says. The shift involved signing Chinese‑developed games for worldwide release.
By the time Doust joined in late 2024, the pipeline already included a handful of indie projects and the ambitious *Showa American Story*. Since then the portfolio has swelled to eight titles slated for release over the next two years, marking a rapid expansion 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 the strategy of US‑based studio ProbablyMonsters. "Players today don’t have the time or appetite for 200‑hour live‑service games, and they’re not willing to spend $80 on a single‑player title unless it’s a blockbuster. A $40‑$50 price point for a well‑crafted experience hits the sweet spot," Doust explains. Developing such games is still a costly endeavour.
"Production budgets typically range from $5 million to $20 million, whether the studio is in China or the West. To break even you need to sell roughly a million copies, which is a tall order given today’s discoverability challenges," he says.
4Divinity’s approach also diverges in its emphasis on brand‑new intellectual property. "Everything you’ll see from us at Gamescom is fresh IP. Even in China, these titles are new, and they’re absolutely new to Western audiences," Doust points out. Larger publishers are increasingly risk‑averse, preferring to iterate on established franchises rather than gamble on untested concepts.
This risk aversion has left a gap that 4Divinity aims to fill. The turning point for the company, according to Doust, was the handling of *Black Myth: Wukong*.
GCL managed the game’s global physical PS5 distribution 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 developing for Western PC markets have returned home and begun creating console‑ready titles.
*Wukong* reportedly cost around 300 million yuan (about $44.6 million) to develop and sold 30 million copies, delivering a substantial profit margin. "Development costs in China are considerably lower, and Chinese gamers are very price‑sensitive," Doust says. This cost advantage shapes 4Divinity’s strategy: source affordable, high‑quality games from Chinese developers and introduce them to Western markets where demand for mid‑priced single‑player experiences remains strong. Doust’s mission is to align Western appetite for fresh, reasonably priced experiences with the supply of Chinese studios capable of delivering them efficiently.
"My thesis when I started working with Jacky Choo, GCL’s chairman, was to find common narrative themes that resonate across East and West – loyalty, revenge, defiance – and market the same game with different cultural lenses," he explains. He believes few have executed this cross‑cultural positioning effectively. In practice, the company often adopts a "do‑nothing" approach: it markets the game primarily in China, allowing a ripple effect to generate sales in the West. *Wukong* exemplified this, selling about 20 million copies in China and 3‑4 million elsewhere – an 80/20 split.
Doust hopes to shift that balance to a 60/40 ratio, which would dramatically increase total unit sales and could potentially make a title one of the best‑selling games of all time relative to its modest development budget. The cross‑border strategy works both ways. While most of 4Divinity’s catalog originates from China, the company also promotes non‑Chinese titles in the Asian market.
Its first non‑Chinese acquisition, *Guns of Eschaton*, was developed by Eschatology Entertainment, a Cyprus‑based studio founded by a former Wargaming employee. The marketing push began at Bilibili World, a massive anime and pop‑culture expo in Shanghai – an early‑stage move no Western publisher typically makes. The campaign generated enough buzz that China became the second‑largest wishlist market for the game after the United States. The expansive Gamescom presence is essentially a live embodiment of this dual‑market strategy.
The company is timing its Cologne showcase to follow a recent appearance at ChinaJoy in Shanghai, aiming to launch titles simultaneously in both regions rather than letting one market lead and the other chase. "Gamescom is our Western coming‑out party," Doust says. "We could run separate campaigns for each game, but consolidating everything into one massive event lets us make a louder noise and introduce both our portfolio and our brand to the West in a single, impactful moment." In short, 4Divinity’s multimillion‑dollar investment at Gamescom reflects a calculated bet on bridging the supply gap in affordable, narrative‑driven single‑player games. By leveraging lower development costs in China, focusing on mid‑tier pricing, and executing coordinated launches across East and West, the publisher hopes to reshape the global publishing landscape and prove that fresh IP can thrive without the massive budgets traditionally associated with AAA titles.