Why an Unfamiliar Publisher Is Investing Millions in Its Gamescom Showcase

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 will be dominated by a company most visitors probably haven’t heard of: 4Divinity. "It’s huge by any standard," says Philip Doust, director of 4Divinity’s UK arm, describing the publisher’s Gamescom footprint. The firm will present six titles in the closed‑door B2B zone, five of them in dedicated trailer showcases, and four titles on the public floor across two separate stands.

The larger of those stands covers roughly 800 square metres. 4Divinity isn’t just betting on size; it’s also pulling out all the stops on spectacle. "We’re working with one of the best booth builders at Gamescom," Doust adds. "No expense has been spared on that front." One of the highlighted experiences is for the 80s‑style pop‑culture RPG *Showa American Story*.

The booth recreates a version of the Hollywood Hills that, in the game’s alternate timeline, have been renamed Neo Yokohama Hills, a place where Japan rules the United States. "We built a seven‑metre‑tall Golden Gate Bridge fitted with Japanese lanterns," Doust explains. "We even constructed a diner that visitors can walk into and play the game.

It’s all very experiential." When Doust says no expense has been spared, he means it. "I can’t give exact numbers – that would be crass – but we’re talking millions of dollars of investment," he says. "The sheer scale of the footprint should make it clear we’re taking the western market seriously, something not every Chinese‑based company does or knows how to do." The reason many people haven’t heard of a company 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 business. GCL’s origins lie in a physical‑distribution operation run through a company called Epicsoft, a business that has existed for nearly two decades.

While physical distribution remains a component of the group’s revenue – "as long as Sony allows us to produce discs," Doust notes – it is a declining segment. "We recognise that the future is digital, so we needed a new growth engine." Enter 4Divinity.

Launched in 2022, the subsidiary originally acted as a co‑publisher for Western developers seeking entry into Southeast Asia. Doust explains that finding a Western title that can succeed in China is a tall order. The firm managed to do it with *Atomic Heart*, which performed strongly in the Chinese market, and later replicated the success with *Stalker 2*. However, those were outliers rather than a sustainable model.

As a Nasdaq‑listed entity, GCL needed a growth strategy that could scale globally. "From a growth perspective, it really had to be global publishing at that point," Doust says. Consequently, 4Divinity began signing Chinese‑developed games for worldwide release.

By the time Doust joined in late 2024, the company already had a few smaller indie titles and the ambitious *Showa American Story* in its pipeline. Since then the portfolio has swelled to eight games slated for release over the next two years, marking a rapid expansion period. All of the titles share common traits: they are primarily single‑player experiences, run 15‑20 hours, and sit in the mid‑tier price range. This focus on the "squeezed middle" of the market mirrors a strategy pursued by U.S.

studio ProbablyMonsters. Doust believes this segment reflects current player desires. "People don’t have 200 hours to pour into a live‑service game," he says. "The $80 blockbuster is reserved for a handful of titles, but many gamers are willing to spend $40‑$50 on a solid single‑player adventure." Developing such games is costly – typically $5‑$20 million per title, whether produced in China or the West.

Doust points out that a game must sell roughly a million copies just to break even, a challenging target given today’s discoverability issues. 4Divinity’s approach also diverges in its emphasis on new intellectual property.

"Everything you’ll see at Gamescom is new IP," Doust notes. Even in China, the titles are fresh, and in the West they are entirely untested. Larger publishers are increasingly risk‑averse, focusing on established franchises because development costs have ballooned. Only a few emerging Chinese studios are willing to gamble on brand‑new concepts.

The catalyst for 4Divinity’s global pivot, according to Doust, was *Black Myth: Wukong*. GCL handled the game’s physical PS5 distribution worldwide and acted as publisher in Taiwan. Because the developer, Game Science, is a Chinese company, it lacked the infrastructure to manage global logistics, giving 4Divinity a valuable role from its Singapore base.

*Wukong* illustrated a broader opportunity. After China lifted its console ban in 2016, many Chinese developers who had been working abroad returned home and formed console‑ and PC‑focused studios.

*Black Myth* was one of the first high‑profile releases, and more are following. Doust says the development cost was around 300 million yuan (about $44.6 million), yet the game sold 30 million copies, delivering a massive profit margin.

Chinese development costs are generally lower, and Chinese gamers are highly price‑sensitive. This dynamic shaped 4Divinity’s strategy: acquire affordable, high‑quality games from Chinese creators and market them to Western audiences that still crave fresh experiences but are unwilling to pay AAA prices. Doust describes the market as a "massive drought of supply" for mid‑tier single‑player games. His mission is to bridge Western demand for "new experiences that don’t cost the earth" with Chinese supply capabilities.

"My thesis when I started working with Jacky Choo, GCL’s chairman, was ‘what if we can find common themes between East and West?’" Doust says. Themes like loyalty, trust, defiance, and revenge resonate across cultures.

By using the same marketing assets but tailoring the messaging to each region, 4Divinity hopes to achieve a more effective cross‑border launch. Doust calls the traditional model of simply releasing a game in China and hoping it ripples westward the "do‑nothing" business.

*Wukong* sold roughly 20 million copies in China and three‑to‑four million elsewhere – an 80/20 split. He believes a more balanced 60/40 split between East and West would dramatically increase overall sales and could even push a title toward becoming the best‑selling game of all time when measured against its modest development budget. To test this theory, 4Divinity is already experimenting with a reverse flow: promoting a Western‑developed game in China first.

Their sole non‑Chinese title, *Guns Of Eschaton*, was created by Eschatology Entertainment, a studio founded in Cyprus by a former Wargaming employee. After announcing the game, 4Divinity took it to Bilibili World, a massive anime and pop‑culture expo in Shanghai. No Western publisher typically launches a game at a Chinese convention this early, but the move generated significant buzz, making China the second‑largest wishlist market after the United States. The massive Gamescom presence is essentially the western counterpart of that strategy.

4Divinity plans to showcase its titles in Cologne shortly after they appear at ChinaJoy in Shanghai, ensuring simultaneous exposure in both markets rather than a staggered rollout that would force the company to chase after Chinese success. Beyond individual game campaigns, Gamescom serves as 4Divinity’s western coming‑out party.

"We could do game‑by‑game campaigns, and we do that to a degree, but Gamescom lets us consolidate everything into one big splash," Doust explains. "Having not done much in the West yet, this is our chance to make some noise. If this is a portfolio play, why not go big?"