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 visitors probably don’t recognize: 4Divinity. "It’s enormous by any measure," says Philip Doust, director of 4Divinity’s UK operation, describing the publisher’s Gamescom footprint. The firm is presenting six titles in the closed‑door B2B zone, five of which will appear in the trailer showcases, and four will be displayed 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’ve hired one of the best booth builders at Gamescom and left no stone unturned," Doust adds. One of the most striking installations is for the 1980s‑inspired RPG *Showa American Story*. The booth recreates a Hollywood‑Hills‑style set that, in the game’s alternate timeline, has been renamed Neo‑Yokohama Hills, a place where Japan rules the United States. "We built a seven‑metre‑tall Golden Gate Bridge adorned with Japanese lanterns, and a fully stocked diner that visitors can walk through to try the game.
It’s a fully immersive experience," Doust explains. When he says no expense has been spared, he means it. "I can’t disclose exact numbers – that would be crass – but we’re talking millions of dollars of investment.
The sheer scale of the space tells you how seriously we’re taking the Western market, something not every Chinese‑owned publisher is prepared to do." The reason many have never heard of a company capable of such spending is that 4Divinity is part of a larger Singapore‑based conglomerate, GCL Global Holdings, which also owns a diamond‑imitation jewellery business. GCL’s roots lie in physical game distribution through Epicsoft, a business that has operated for almost two decades.
"Physical distribution is still a sizable segment for us, and we’ll keep it as long as Sony continues to produce discs," Doust says, noting that the market is shrinking. "Because the disc business is declining, we needed a digital‑focused growth engine." Enter 4Divinity. Launched in 2022, the label originally acted as a co‑publisher for Western developers seeking entry into Southeast Asian markets. Doust points out that finding a Western title that resonates in China is exceptionally difficult.
The company succeeded with *Atomic Heart*, which performed strongly in China, and later with *Stalker 2*, but those successes were outliers. "Those titles alone couldn’t sustain the growth GCL expects as a Nasdaq‑listed group," he says. "We needed a truly global publishing model." Consequently, 4Divinity began signing Chinese‑developed games for worldwide release.
By the time Doust joined in late 2024, the portfolio already included a handful of indie projects and the ambitious *Showa American Story*. Today the slate has swelled to eight games slated for launch over the next two years, marking a rapid expansion phase. All of the titles share common traits: they are primarily single‑player experiences, lasting 15‑20 hours, and priced in the mid‑tier range. This focus on the “squeezed middle” of the market mirrors strategies pursued by other independents such as ProbablyMonsters.
Doust believes this segment captures current player sentiment: "People don’t have the time for 200‑hour live‑service games, and they’re not willing to spend $80 on a single‑player title unless it’s a blockbuster. A $40‑$50 price point for a well‑crafted experience feels right." Developing games in this space typically costs between $5 million and $20 million. "Regardless of whether the studio is in China or the West, that’s a huge investment," Doust notes. With additional operating expenses, a title needs to move roughly a million units just to break even – a daunting target given today’s discoverability challenges.
4Divinity’s approach also diverges in its emphasis on brand‑new IP. "Everything you’ll see at Gamescom is a fresh intellectual property," he says.
In China, new IP is already the norm, but in the West most large publishers shy away from untested concepts, preferring established franchises. The risk‑averse nature of AAA development has turned many studios into franchise machines, leaving little room for newcomers unless they are backed by significant resources. The turning point for 4Divinity, according to Doust, was the distribution of *Black Myth: Wukong*.
GCL handled the game’s physical PS5 distribution worldwide and acted as publisher in Taiwan, filling a gap for the Chinese developer Game Science, which lacks the infrastructure to manage global logistics from Singapore. The success of *Wukong* highlighted a broader opportunity: after China lifted its console ban in 2016, many Chinese developers who had been working abroad returned home and formed console‑ready studios.
Doust estimates that *Wukong* cost around 300 million yuan (about $44.6 million) to develop and has sold roughly 30 million copies, delivering a substantial profit margin. Lower development costs and price‑sensitive Chinese gamers shape 4Divinity’s regional strategy. Doust argues that while major Western publishers have retreated from mid‑budget, single‑player projects for financial reasons, consumer appetite for such games remains strong, creating a “massive drought of supply.” His mission is to bridge Western demand for affordable, self‑contained experiences with the supply that Chinese studios can produce efficiently. "When I started working with Jacky Choo, GCL’s chairman, I asked: what common themes link East and West?
Loyalty, trust, defiance, revenge – those are universal. We market the same game with different messaging tailored to each region. No one has done this effectively yet." Even without a concerted effort, games will cross borders, but 4Divinity wants to amplify the effect. Doust describes the company’s “do‑nothing” model: they market primarily in China, allowing a ripple effect to generate modest sales abroad, typically an 80/20 split.
*Wukong* followed that pattern, selling 20 million copies in China and 3‑4 million elsewhere. The goal now is to shift the balance toward a 60/40 split, which would dramatically increase total unit sales and could potentially make a title one of the best‑selling games of all time relative to its development budget. The firm is also experimenting with reverse flow – taking Western games into China early. Their first non‑Chinese title, *Guns Of Eschaton*, was launched at Bilibili World in Shanghai, a move no Western publisher has attempted at that stage of a campaign.
The early exposure made China the second‑largest wishlist market for the game after the United States. All of this strategic thinking is reflected in 4Divinity’s massive Gamescom presence.
The company is showcasing its titles in Cologne just weeks after debuting them at ChinaJoy in Shanghai, aiming to generate simultaneous buzz in both markets rather than waiting for Chinese success to trickle westward. Doust sees Gamescom as a western coming‑out party: "We could run individual campaigns for each game, but Gamescom lets us bundle everything into one high‑impact event. Since we haven’t done much in the West yet, this is our chance to make some noise. If we’re presenting an entire portfolio, why not go big?"