Walking through Gamescom, the world’s largest gaming expo, most visitors are drawn to the massive, eye‑catching booths that belong to industry giants such as Capcom, Xbox, Sega, EA, Ubisoft and the like. This year, however, a substantial portion of Halls 6 and 7 is occupied by a name that many attendees may not recognize: 4Divinity.
"It’s enormous by any standard," says Philip Doust, director of 4Divinity’s UK arm, when describing the company’s Gamescom footprint. The publisher has secured space for six titles in the closed‑door B2B area, five of which will appear in the adjacent trailer showcases, and four games will be presented on the public show floor across two separate stands. The larger of those stands covers roughly 800 square metres.
But the scale of the physical presence is only part of the story; the company is also pulling out all the stops on the production side. "We’re working with one of the best booth builders at Gamescom and we haven’t skimped on anything," Doust adds. One of the most striking displays is for the 1980s‑inspired RPG *Showa American Story*.
The set recreates a version of the Hollywood Hills that, within the game’s alternate timeline, has been renamed Neo Yokohama Hills after Japan takes control of the United States. "We built a seven‑metre‑high Golden Gate Bridge adorned with Japanese lanterns, and we even constructed a diner that visitors can walk into to try the game.
It’s a fully immersive experience," Doust explains. When pressed about the cost, Doust declines to give an exact figure, calling it "crass" to disclose specifics, but confirms that the investment runs into the millions of dollars. "The size of our footprint alone shows we’re willing to spend at that level. It reflects how seriously we’re taking the Western market—a commitment not all Chinese‑based companies share or even understand." The reason this relatively unknown publisher can afford such a splash is that 4Divinity is part of a larger conglomerate, Singapore‑based GCL Global Holdings, which also owns a variety of other businesses, including a jewellery brand that mimics diamonds.
GCL’s roots lie in a physical‑distribution operation called Epicsoft, a business that has been around for nearly two decades. While physical media remains a component of the group’s revenue, Doust acknowledges that the market is shrinking, especially after recent announcements from Sony that have further complicated disc production. "We’ll keep distributing discs as long as Sony permits and there’s demand, but we recognize that the future is digital." 4Divinity itself was launched in 2022 as a co‑publisher to help Western developers bring their games to Southeast Asia.
Doust notes that finding a Western title that performs well in China is a daunting task. The company succeeded with *Atomic Heart*, which saw strong sales in China, and later replicated that success with *Stalker 2*. However, those titles were outliers rather than a sustainable growth engine.
As a Nasdaq‑listed entity, GCL needed a more scalable revenue model. "From a growth perspective we had to think globally," Doust says. The answer was to start signing Chinese‑developed games for worldwide distribution.
By the time Doust joined in late 2024, the company already had a handful of titles—including a couple of 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 expansion. All of the titles share common characteristics: they are primarily single‑player experiences, lasting roughly 15‑20 hours, and priced in the mid‑tier range.
This focus was not pre‑planned but emerged as a coherent strategy aimed at the “squeezed middle” of the market—a segment that sits between low‑budget indie games and high‑budget AAA blockbusters. Doust believes this is exactly what many gamers are craving today. "People don’t have the time or desire to invest 200 hours into a live‑service game. An $80 AAA title is reserved for a few marquee franchises, but there’s a willingness to spend $40‑$50 on a well‑crafted single‑player adventure." Developing such games is still expensive, with budgets ranging from $5 million to $20 million, regardless of whether the studio is based in China or the West.
To break even, a title typically needs to sell about a million copies—a challenging target given the crowded marketplace and discoverability issues. What sets 4Divinity apart is its commitment to new intellectual property. Every game on display at Gamescom is a fresh IP, many of which are debuting in the West for the first time. Larger publishers are increasingly risk‑averse, preferring to lean on established franchises rather than gamble on untested concepts.
This cautious approach has left a gap in the market that 4Divinity hopes to fill. The catalyst for the publisher’s strategic pivot was the success 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 stepped in from its Singapore hub.
*Wukong*’s triumph highlighted the untapped potential of Chinese developers who, after the 2016 lifting of the console ban, began creating console and PC titles for both domestic and international audiences. Financially, *Wukong* was a modest‑budget project by Western standards—approximately 300 million yuan (about $44.6 million)—yet it sold an estimated 30 million copies, delivering a staggering profit margin.
Doust points out that development costs in China are generally lower and Chinese gamers are highly price‑sensitive, which shapes the publisher’s pricing and marketing strategy. Doust’s overarching mission is to bridge Western demand for fresh, affordable experiences with the supply of Chinese developers who can deliver them efficiently.
He describes his thesis as finding universal themes—loyalty, trust, defiance, revenge—that resonate across cultures, then tailoring the marketing message to each region while using the same creative assets. In practice, this approach can be seen in the company’s “do‑nothing” business model for certain titles: they market primarily in China, allowing a ripple effect to generate sales in the West, typically resulting in an 80/20 split (80 % of sales in China, 20 % elsewhere). *Wukong* followed this pattern, moving 20 million units in China and an additional three‑to‑four million abroad.
Doust hopes to shift that ratio to a more balanced 60/40 split, which would dramatically increase total unit sales and potentially elevate a title to best‑selling status relative to its development cost. The cross‑border ambition is not one‑sided. While 4Divinity is promoting Chinese games in the West, it is also introducing Western titles to Chinese audiences. Their first non‑Chinese game, *Guns Of Eschaton*, developed by Cyprus‑based Eschatology Entertainment, was launched at Bilibili World, a massive anime and pop‑culture expo in Shanghai.
By debuting the game at such an event—something few Western publishers would consider so early in a campaign—the title quickly rose to become the second most wished‑for game in China, trailing only the United States. Gamescom serves as the Western counterpart to this strategy. By aligning its Cologne showcase with a recent appearance at ChinaJoy in Shanghai, 4Divinity aims to generate simultaneous buzz in both markets, rather than allowing a game to gain traction in China first and then scrambling to catch up in the West. Ultimately, the massive Gamescom presence is a deliberate statement: 4Divinity is ready to make noise in the Western market, consolidating its multi‑title portfolio into one high‑impact event.
"If we’re using Gamescom as a portfolio launch for the West, why not go big?" Doust concludes, underscoring the company’s belief that scale, strategic positioning, and a focus on mid‑tier, single‑player experiences can carve out a sustainable niche in an industry dominated by blockbuster franchises.