Walking 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 will not recognize: 4Divinity. "It's enormous by any standard," says Philip Doust, director of 4Divinity’s UK arm, describing the publisher’s Gamescom footprint. The company is presenting six titles in the closed‑door B2B area, five of them in the associated trailer showcases, and four on the public showfloor across two separate stands.
The larger of the two spans roughly 800 square metres. Doust emphasizes that the scale is matched by the spectacle: "We hired one of the best booth builders at Gamescom and spared no expense." One of the highlights, the area for the 80s‑inspired RPG *Showa American Story*, features a recreated Hollywood Hills set now renamed Neo Yokohama Hills, an alternate‑timeline United States ruled by Japan. "We built a seven‑metre‑high Golden Gate Bridge draped with Japanese lanterns, and a fully stocked 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," but confirms that the investment runs into the millions. "The size of the footprint alone shows we are committing resources at that level. It signals how seriously we are taking the Western market – something not every Chinese‑owned company does or knows how to do." The reason this relatively unknown publisher can afford such a splash is its corporate backing. 4Divinity is part of Singapore‑based GCL Global Holdings, a diversified group that also owns an imitation‑diamond jewellery line.
GCL’s core business originated nearly two decades ago with Epicsoft, a physical‑distribution operation that still ships discs as long as Sony permits them. Doust acknowledges that disc distribution is a declining revenue stream, but notes it remains a significant part of the group’s overall business while they transition toward digital. 4Divinity itself was launched in 2022 as a co‑publisher helping Western developers bring games to Southeast Asia.
Their first major success was *Atomic Heart*, which performed strongly in China, followed by *Stalker 2*. Doust admits those titles were outliers; they proved that a Western game could capture a Chinese audience, but they could not sustain the growth GCL expects from a Nasdaq‑listed company. Consequently, the strategy shifted to global publishing of Chinese‑made titles.
Before Doust arrived in late 2024, the company had already signed a handful of games, including smaller indie projects and the ambitious *Showa American Story*. Since then the portfolio has expanded to eight titles slated for release over the next two years, marking a rapid growth 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 approach of U.S.
firm ProbablyMonsters and reflects what Doust believes players currently crave. "People don’t have time for 200‑hour live‑service games," he says.
"The $80 AAA titles are reserved for a few blockbuster franchises. Most gamers are willing to spend $40‑$50 on a polished single‑player adventure." Developing such titles is expensive – typically $5‑$20 million per game – regardless of whether the studio is in China or the West. Doust points out that a game must sell roughly a million copies just to break even, a daunting target given today’s discoverability challenges.
4Divinity also differentiates itself by championing brand‑new intellectual property. "Everything you’ll see at Gamescom is new IP," Doust notes. Even in China, many of these titles are debut releases, and in the West they are completely unknown. Larger publishers are reluctant to gamble on untested IP, especially as AAA development becomes increasingly risk‑averse and franchise‑driven.
This creates an opening for a company willing to back fresh concepts. The turning point for 4Divinity, according to Doust, was the handling of *Black Myth: Wukong*. GCL managed 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 success of *Wukong* highlighted a broader opportunity: after China lifted its console ban in 2016, many Chinese studios that had been developing for Western markets returned home, forming new console‑ and PC‑focused teams.
*Wukong* reportedly cost around 300 million yuan (about $44.6 million) to develop and sold 30 million copies, delivering a substantial profit margin. Doust explains that development costs in China are generally lower, and Chinese gamers are highly price‑sensitive, which shapes 4Divinity’s strategy of offering affordable, high‑quality experiences.
His broader thesis is to connect Western demand for "new experiences that don’t cost the earth" with the supply of Chinese developers who can produce such games more economically. He believes universal themes—loyalty, trust, defiance, revenge—transcend cultural boundaries and can be marketed with tailored messaging for each region.
Doust describes the traditional "do‑nothing" approach where a publisher only markets a game in China and relies on a ripple effect abroad, typically resulting in an 80/20 sales split (80 % China, 20 % rest of world). *Wukong* followed that pattern, selling 20 million copies in China and 3‑4 million elsewhere.
4Divinity aims to shift that ratio toward a 60/40 balance, which would dramatically increase total unit sales and potentially create one of the best‑selling games of all time relative to its modest development budget. The company is pursuing a two‑way cultural exchange, likening it to a modern Silk Road. While most of its catalog is Chinese‑originated, it recently added a non‑Chinese title, *Guns Of Eschaton*, from a Cyprus‑based studio founded by a former Wargaming employee.
The first marketing push for that game began at Bilibili World in Shanghai—an early, unconventional move for a Western title that quickly made China the second‑largest wishlist market after the United States. 4Divinity’s massive Gamescom presence mirrors this dual‑market strategy. Its 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 favors one market over the other.
Doust sees Gamescom as the Western coming‑out party for the publisher, a chance to consolidate multiple campaigns into a single, high‑impact event. "If we’re using Gamescom to introduce our portfolio to the West, why not go big?" he concludes.