Walking the aisles of Gamescom, you’ll quickly notice that the most expansive and elaborate booths belong 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 don’t recognize: 4Divinity. "It’s massive by any standard," says Philip Doust, director of 4Divinity’s UK branch, describing the publisher’s Gamescom footprint.
The company is presenting six titles in the closed‑door B2B zone, five of which will appear in the adjacent trailer showcases, and four will be displayed on the public floor across two separate stands. The larger of those stands spans roughly 800 square metres.
4Divinity is not only betting on size but also on spectacle. "We’ve hired one of the top booth builders at Gamescom and spared no expense," Doust adds.
One of the most eye‑catching installations is for the 1980s‑inspired 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‑high Golden Gate Bridge adorned with Japanese lanterns, and a diner you can walk into to start playing. It’s a fully immersive experience," Doust explains. When he says no expense was spared, he is serious. "I can’t disclose exact numbers – that would be crass – but we’re talking millions of dollars of investment.
The sheer scale of our footprint makes it clear we’re committing to that level. It shows how seriously we’re taking the Western market, something not every Chinese‑owned company does or even knows how to do." The reason many have never heard of a firm that 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 physical game distribution through a company called Epicsoft, a business that has been operating for nearly two decades. Doust acknowledges that the physical‑media market is under pressure, especially after recent announcements from Sony. "Physical distribution remains a significant part of our group’s revenue, and we’ll continue it as long as Sony supports disc production," he says. "But we recognise the decline, so we needed a digital‑focused growth engine." Enter 4Divinity, launched in 2022 as a co‑publisher helping Western developers bring titles to Southeast Asia.
Doust notes that finding a Western game that resonates in China is exceptionally difficult. The company succeeded with *Atomic Heart*, which performed strongly in the Chinese market, and later with *Stalker 2*. However, those successes were outliers. "From a growth perspective, GCL needed a global publishing platform," Doust says.
"That’s why we began signing Chinese‑developed games for worldwide release. The process started before I joined in late 2024 – they had already secured a handful of titles, including a few indie projects and the ambitious *Showa American Story*. Since then we’ve expanded to eight games slated for release over the next two years." 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 was not pre‑planned but emerged as a coherent strategy aimed at the “squeezed middle” of the market – a niche also being explored by U.S.
publisher ProbablyMonsters. "Players today don’t have the time or desire to invest 200 hours into a live‑service game," Doust observes. "The $80‑plus AAA titles are reserved for a few blockbuster franchises. By contrast, gamers are willing to spend $40‑50 on a well‑crafted single‑player adventure." Developing such games is costly regardless of geography.
"These projects typically cost between $5 million and $20 million to produce," Doust explains. "You need to sell roughly a million copies just to break even, and that’s a tall order given today’s discoverability challenges." 4Divinity’s approach also diverges in its emphasis on new IP. "Everything you’ll see from us at Gamescom is brand‑new," he says.
"Even in China, these are fresh properties, and they’re completely unknown in the West. Larger publishers shy away from betting on multiple new IPs because development costs have skyrocketed. AAA has become franchise‑centric and risk‑averse, leaving space for companies like ours." The catalyst for the publisher’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 studio, they lacked the infrastructure to manage global logistics, which 4Divinity filled from its Singapore base. Wukong’s triumph highlighted a broader opportunity.
Since China lifted its console ban in 2016, many Chinese developers who had been working abroad returned home and formed console‑ready studios. *Black Myth: Wukong* was among the first to break out, and more are following. Doust points out that development costs in China are considerably lower; a tax filing suggests Wukong cost about 300 million yuan (approximately $44.6 million) and sold 30 million copies, delivering a substantial profit margin. "Chinese developers can produce high‑quality games at a fraction of Western costs, and Chinese gamers are highly price‑sensitive," Doust says.
"That dynamic shaped our regional strategy and gives us a testing ground for titles that may succeed elsewhere. There’s a massive drought of affordable, narrative‑driven games, and we aim to fill it." His mission is to bridge Western demand for fresh experiences that don’t break the bank with the supply that Chinese creators can provide. "When I started working with Jacky Choo, GCL’s chairman, I asked: what common themes exist between East and West?
Loyalty, trust, defiance, revenge – those are universal. We market the same game with different cultural lenses, something few have done effectively." Even without a concerted effort, games will cross borders, but Doust calls the passive approach his "do‑nothing" business: they market primarily in China, and a ripple effect generates modest sales abroad, typically an 80/20 split.
*Wukong* sold 20 million copies in China and about three‑four million elsewhere, fitting that pattern. 4Divinity hopes to shift the ratio toward a 60/40 split, which would dramatically increase unit sales. "If we could replicate Wukong’s success with that balance, we might be looking at one of the best‑selling games of all time relative to its development budget," Doust muses.
The company is pursuing a two‑way Silk Road strategy – east‑to‑west and west‑to‑east. Currently, its only non‑Chinese title is *Guns Of Eschaton*, created by Eschatology Entertainment, a Cyprus‑based studio founded by a former Wargaming employee. The marketing push for that game began at Bilibili World, Asia’s massive anime and pop‑culture expo in Shanghai, a move no Western publisher typically makes so early in a campaign.
The early exposure made China the second‑largest wishlist market after the United States. The massive Gamescom presence mirrors this dual‑market approach. 4Divinity’s titles will hit Cologne shortly after a showcase at ChinaJoy in Shanghai, allowing the company to generate simultaneous buzz in both regions rather than chasing a Chinese hit after the fact. Doust emphasizes that Gamescom serves as the Western coming‑out party for the publisher.
"We could run individual campaigns for each game, and we do to some extent, but Gamescom lets us bundle everything into one high‑impact event. We haven’t done much in the West yet, so this is our chance to make noise. If we’re presenting a portfolio, why not go big?"