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 sizable portion of Halls 6 and 7 is dominated by a company most visitors probably haven’t heard of: 4Divinity. "It's enormous by any standard," says Philip Doust, director of 4Divinity’s UK arm, describing the publisher’s Gamescom footprint. The firm is showcasing six titles in the closed‑door B2B zone, five of those in dedicated trailer showcases, and four on the public show floor across two separate stands, the larger of which covers roughly 800 square metres.
The scale is matched by the spectacle. "We hired one of the best booth builders at Gamescom and left no stone unturned," Doust adds.
One of the most striking displays is for the 1980s‑style RPG *Showa American Story*. The set recreates a Hollywood‑Hills‑like landscape, rebranded as Neo Yokohama Hills in the game’s alternate timeline where Japan governs the United States.
"We built a seven‑metre‑high Golden Gate Bridge draped with Japanese lanterns, and a diner you can walk into to start playing," Doust explains. The experience is deliberately immersive, meant to give visitors a taste of the game’s world. When pressed about the cost, Doust refuses to give an exact number, calling it "crass" to do so, but confirms that the investment runs into the millions. "The size of our footprint alone shows we are committing resources at that level.
It signals how seriously we are taking the Western market—a commitment not all Chinese‑based companies are willing or able to make." The reason this publisher can afford such a spend is that 4Divinity is part of a larger Singapore‑based conglomerate, GCL Global Holdings, which also owns an imitation‑diamond jewellery business. GCL’s roots lie in a physical‑distribution operation called Epicsoft, a business that has existed for nearly two decades.
While physical distribution remains a component of the group—"as long as Sony continues to produce discs, we’ll keep supporting it"—Doust acknowledges that the model is in decline and that the company must pivot toward digital revenue streams. 4Divinity itself launched in 2022 as a co‑publisher helping Western developers bring games to Southeast Asia.
Doust notes that finding a Western title that resonates in China is challenging, but the company succeeded with *Atomic Heart*, which performed strongly in the Chinese market, and later with *Stalker 2*. Those successes were outliers, however, and GCL, a Nasdaq‑listed entity, needed a growth engine that could scale globally. "From a growth perspective we had to become a global publisher," Doust says. The shift meant signing Chinese‑developed games for worldwide release.
By the time Doust joined in late 2024, the roster already included a few indie titles 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 titles share common traits: they are primarily single‑player experiences, lasting about 15‑20 hours, and priced in the mid‑tier range.
This focus on the "squeezed middle" of the market mirrors strategies employed by other independent publishers such as the US‑based ProbablyMonsters. Doust believes this segment captures current player appetite: "People don’t have time for 200‑hour live‑service games, and they’re not willing to spend $80 on a single‑player title. A $40‑$50 price point for a well‑crafted experience hits the sweet spot." Developing a game in this AA bracket typically costs between $5 million and $20 million, regardless of whether the studio is in China or the West. With additional operating expenses, a title often needs to sell around a million copies just to break even—a daunting target in today’s crowded marketplace where discoverability is a major hurdle.
4Divinity’s approach also diverges in its emphasis on 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 tend to avoid betting on untested IPs, especially given the escalating costs of AAA development, which has pushed many studios toward franchise‑centric models. By contrast, 4Divinity is willing to take that risk, betting that the lower development costs in China can offset the financial uncertainty.
The catalyst for this global pivot, according to Doust, was the success of *Black Myth: Wukong*. GCL handled the physical PS5 distribution worldwide and acted as the publisher for the Taiwanese market.
Because the developer, Game Science, is a Chinese studio, it lacked the infrastructure to manage global logistics, giving 4Divinity a valuable entry point. Wukong’s triumph highlighted a broader trend: since China lifted its console ban in 2016, many Chinese developers who had been working for Western studios have returned home to form their own console and PC studios. Doust points out that *Black Myth: Wukong* was among the first wave, and the pipeline is now filling with more titles. With two offices in China, GCL enjoys direct access to this emerging talent pool.
Financially, the game’s development cost—estimated at over 300 million yuan (about $44.6 million)—was modest compared with Western AAA budgets, yet it sold roughly 30 million copies, delivering a substantial profit margin. "Development costs are far cheaper in China, and Chinese gamers are very price‑sensitive," Doust notes.
This economic reality shapes 4Divinity’s strategy: leverage cost‑effective Chinese production while offering Western‑style pricing, thereby filling a noticeable gap in the market. Doust’s mission is to bridge Western demand for fresh, reasonably priced experiences with the supply of Chinese developers capable of delivering them. He explains his original thesis when joining GCL’s chairman Jacky Choo: "What if we could find universal themes—loyalty, trust, defiance, revenge—that resonate both East and West? Then we market the same game with slightly different messaging for each region.
No one has really executed that well yet." Even without a concerted cross‑border push, games tend to travel. Doust calls this the "do‑nothing" business model: marketing primarily in China and allowing a ripple effect to generate sales abroad, typically resulting in an 80/20 split (80 % of sales in China, 20 % elsewhere). *Wukong* followed that pattern, moving 20 million units in China and three to four million outside.
4Divinity aims to improve that ratio to around 60/40, which would dramatically increase total sales volume. Doust muses that if *Wukong* had achieved such a balance, it could have become the best‑selling game of all time relative to its modest development budget—a tantalising prospect. The company is pursuing a two‑way Silk Road strategy: promoting Chinese games in the West and Western games in China.
Its only non‑Chinese title at present is *Guns Of Eschaton*, developed by Eschatology Entertainment, a Cyprus‑based studio founded by a former Wargaming employee. The marketing launch began in China, with the first major push at Bilibili World, Shanghai’s massive anime and pop‑culture convention. Doust notes that no Western publisher typically showcases a game that early in the Chinese market, yet the move generated enough buzz to make China the second‑largest wishlist region for the title after the United States.
The massive Gamescom presence mirrors this dual‑market strategy. The games are arriving in Cologne shortly after a showcase at ChinaJoy in Shanghai, ensuring simultaneous exposure in both territories rather than a staggered rollout that would force the publisher to chase after a Chinese hit that has already peaked.
Beyond individual game promotion, Gamescom serves as 4Divinity’s debut on the Western stage. While the company does run separate campaigns for each title, the trade show offers a platform to consolidate those efforts into one high‑impact event.
"We haven’t done much in the West yet, so this is our chance to make some noise," Doust says, justifying the scale of the investment. "If we’re presenting our whole portfolio, why not go big?"