Strolling through Gamescom, the massive, eye‑catching booths are usually attached 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 company most attendees probably haven’t heard of: 4Divinity. "It’s huge by any measure," says Philip Doust, director of 4Divinity’s UK arm, describing the publisher’s Gamescom footprint.
The firm is presenting six titles in the closed‑door B2B zone, five of which will feature in dedicated trailer showcases, and four will be displayed on the public floor across two separate stands, the larger of which spans roughly 800 square metres. The ambition goes beyond sheer size; the company has hired one of the most respected booth builders at the show and spared no expense on the design. One of the showcases, for the 1980s‑inspired RPG *Showa American Story*, recreates a Hollywood‑hills‑type landscape that the game re‑imagines as “Neo Yokohama Hills,” an alternate timeline where Japan governs the United States.
"We built a seven‑metre‑tall Golden Gate Bridge adorned with Japanese lanterns, and a diner you can walk into to start playing," Doust explains. The experience is meant to be immersive, giving visitors a tangible taste of the game’s world. 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 scale of our presence alone shows we’re committing resources at that level. It reflects how seriously we’re taking the Western market – something not every Chinese‑origin publisher is prepared to do." The reason this name may be unfamiliar is that 4Divinity is part of a larger conglomerate, Singapore‑based GCL Global Holdings, which also owns a faux‑diamond jewellery business among other ventures.
GCL’s roots lie in physical game distribution through Epicsoft, a company that has been operating for almost two decades. While physical media remain a component of the group’s revenue – "as long as Sony continues to produce discs," Doust notes – the market is clearly in decline, prompting the group to pivot toward digital‑focused operations. 4Divinity was launched in 2022 as a co‑publisher helping Western developers bring titles to Southeast Asia. Its first major successes came with *Atomic Heart* and *Stalker 2*, both of which performed strongly in China.
However, Doust acknowledges those were outliers. "Finding a Western game that truly resonates in the Chinese market, especially China itself, is extremely difficult," he says.
The company realised that relying on occasional hits would not satisfy the growth expectations of a Nasdaq‑listed parent. Consequently, 4Divinity shifted its strategy to become a global publisher of Chinese‑developed games. Even before Doust arrived in late 2024, the firm had 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 rapid growth phase. All of the announced titles share common traits: they are primarily single‑player experiences, lasting about 15–20 hours, and priced in the mid‑tier range. This focus was not pre‑planned but emerged organically as a viable niche – the so‑called “squeezed middle” of the market, a segment also being explored by U.S. publisher ProbablyMonsters.
Doust believes this is exactly what many gamers currently desire: "People don’t have the time or inclination to invest 200 hours in a live‑service game. The $80 AAA titles are reserved for a few blockbuster franchises, but there’s a willingness to spend $40‑$50 on a well‑crafted single‑player adventure." Developing such games is still a substantial financial undertaking. "Typical budgets range from $5 million to $20 million, whether the studio is in China or the West," Doust says.
To break even, a title often needs to sell around a million copies, a challenging target given today’s discoverability issues. What sets 4Divinity apart is its commitment to new intellectual property. "Everything you’ll see at Gamescom is brand‑new IP – even in China, these are fresh concepts, and they’re absolutely new to Western audiences," Doust notes. Larger publishers tend to avoid betting on unproven IPs, especially after the rising costs of development have made AAA studios risk‑averse, focusing instead on established franchises.
This risk‑aversion leaves a gap that 4Divinity aims to fill. The catalyst for the company’s global pivot was the success of *Black Myth: Wukong*. GCL handled 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 title’s triumph highlighted a broader opportunity: since China lifted its console ban in 2016, many Chinese studios have begun creating console and PC games for export.
Wukong’s development cost, according to a Chinese tax filing, was roughly 300 million yuan (about $44.6 million), yet it sold 30 million copies, delivering a massive profit margin. Doust points out that development costs in China are considerably lower, and Chinese gamers are highly price‑sensitive. This economics‑driven environment shaped 4Divinity’s strategy: bring affordable, high‑quality Chinese games to Western markets where there is still strong demand but limited supply.
Doust’s overarching thesis is to match Western appetite for fresh, reasonably priced experiences with the output of Chinese developers. He explains, "When I started working with Jacky Choo, the GCL chairman, I asked whether we could find common storytelling themes between East and West – loyalty, revenge, defiance – and then market the same game with different cultural lenses. No one has done this effectively at scale." The company also experiments with a “do‑nothing” approach: it markets a game primarily in China, allowing a natural ripple effect to generate modest sales in the West, typically an 80/20 split.
*Wukong* followed this pattern, selling 20 million copies in China and about three to four million elsewhere. Doust hopes to shift that balance to a 60/40 split by actively promoting titles in both regions simultaneously, describing the effort as a modern Silk Road for games. One concrete example of this dual‑market push is *Guns Of Eschaton*, the only non‑Chinese title in the portfolio, developed by Eschatology Entertainment – a new studio founded in Cyprus by a former Wargaming employee.
After announcing the game, 4Divinity immediately showcased it at 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 for the game after the United States. The massive Gamescom presence mirrors this strategy.
Rather than waiting for a title to achieve massive traction in China before heading west, 4Divinity brings its games to Cologne shortly after debuting them at ChinaJoy in Shanghai. This synchronized rollout aims to create simultaneous momentum in both markets. Beyond promoting individual games, Gamescom serves as 4Divinity’s Western debut party. "We could run separate campaigns for each title, and we do to some extent, but Gamescom lets us consolidate everything into one high‑impact event," Doust says.
"Having done relatively little in the West so far, this is our chance to make a splash. If we’re presenting an entire portfolio, why not go big?"