Strolling through Gamescom, you’ll quickly notice that the most eye‑catching booths belong to household names—Capcom, Xbox, Sega, EA, Ubisoft, and the like. This year, however, a sizable portion of Halls 6 and 7 is occupied by a company most attendees probably don’t recognize: 4Divinity.
"It’s massive by any measure," 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 zone, five of those in the associated trailer showcases, and four on the public show‑floor across two separate stands, the larger of which spans roughly 800 square metres. The ambition goes beyond sheer size; Doust emphasizes that the booth has been built by one of the event’s premier contractors and that “no expense has been spared.” One of the showcased games, the 80s‑inspired RPG *Showa American Story*, features a recreated Hollywood Hills set—rebranded as the Neo‑Yokohama Hills in the game’s alternate timeline where Japan governs the United States.
"We have a seven‑metre‑high Golden Gate Bridge adorned with Japanese lanterns, a diner you can walk into to start playing, and a host of other immersive touches," Doust explains. The goal is to make the experience as tactile and memorable as possible. 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 scale of our footprint alone shows we’re committing resources at that level.
It signals how seriously we’re taking the Western market—a commitment not all Chinese‑based firms share or even understand." So why might you have never heard of a company capable of such spending? 4Divinity is part of a larger conglomerate, Singapore‑based GCL Global Holdings, which also owns a jewellery‑imitation business among other ventures. GCL’s roots lie in physical game distribution through Epicsoft, a company that has been moving discs for nearly two decades.
While the physical‑media business remains a component of the group—"as long as Sony continues to allow disc production, we’ll keep it alive"—Doust acknowledges that the market is shrinking. "We recognise it’s a declining segment, so we needed a digital‑first strategy to sustain growth." 4Divinity was launched in 2022 as a co‑publisher helping Western developers bring titles to Southeast Asia. Their first big success was *Atomic Heart*, which performed strongly in China, followed by *Stalker 2*.
"Those were outliers," Doust notes. The company realized that occasional hits would not fuel the growth required by a Nasdaq‑listed parent.
The answer, he says, was to become a truly global publisher, signing Chinese‑developed games for worldwide release. The pipeline has expanded rapidly. Before Doust joined in late 2024, the team had already secured a handful of smaller indie projects and the ambitious *Showa American Story*. Today the portfolio includes eight games slated for release over the next two years, marking a period of accelerated expansion.
All of the titles share common characteristics: 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 strategies employed by other firms such as the U.S. studio ProbablyMonsters. Doust believes this segment captures current player sentiment.
"Most gamers don’t have the time—or desire—to invest 200 hours in a live‑service title. High‑budget AAA games are few and expensive, but there’s a willingness to spend $40‑$50 on a well‑crafted single‑player adventure." Developing games of this scale 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 challenging target given today’s discoverability hurdles. 4Divinity’s approach also diverges in its emphasis on new intellectual property. "Everything you’ll see at Gamescom is fresh IP," Doust says. Even in China, the titles are new to the market, and they’re entirely unknown in the West.
Larger publishers tend to avoid betting on unproven IP, especially after the rise of risk‑averse AAA development, which has become dominated by established franchises. The turning point for the publisher, 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. Because the developer, Game Science, is a Chinese studio, it lacked the infrastructure to manage global logistics, and 4Divinity filled that gap from its Singapore base. *Wukong*’s triumph 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‑focused studios. *Black Myth* was one of the first to break through, and more are following.
Development costs in China remain comparatively low; a tax filing suggests the game cost roughly 300 million yuan (about $44.6 million) to produce, yet it has sold an estimated 30 million copies, delivering substantial profit. Doust points out that Chinese players are highly price‑sensitive, which shapes 4Divinity’s regional strategy. By offering high‑quality experiences at modest price points, the publisher can test titles in China and then roll them out to Western markets, where demand for such games remains strong despite a lack of supply.
"There’s a massive drought of affordable, narrative‑driven games," he observes. His broader thesis is to bridge East‑West preferences by finding universal themes—loyalty, trust, defiance, revenge—and tailoring marketing messages to each audience while using the same creative assets. He believes few have executed this cross‑cultural approach effectively. Even without an aggressive marketing push, games tend to cross borders.
Doust describes this as a "do‑nothing" business model: the publisher markets primarily in China, a ripple effect creates modest sales abroad, typically an 80/20 split (80 % in China, 20 % elsewhere). *Wukong* followed that pattern, selling about 20 million copies in China and 3‑4 million internationally.
Doust hopes to shift the ratio toward a 60/40 balance, which would dramatically increase total unit sales and could potentially produce one of the best‑selling games of all time relative to its development budget. The company is also experimenting in the opposite direction—introducing Western titles to Chinese audiences. Their first non‑Chinese game, *Guns of Eschaton*, developed by Cyprus‑based Eschatology Entertainment, was debuted at Bilibili World, a massive anime and pop‑culture expo in Shanghai.
This early exposure generated significant buzz, making China the second‑largest wishlist market for the title after the United States. All of these efforts converge at Gamescom.
By showcasing the entire portfolio in Cologne shortly after a ChinaJoy appearance in Shanghai, 4Divinity aims to launch games simultaneously in both markets rather than letting one region lead and the other chase. The massive booth serves as a Western coming‑out party, consolidating multiple game campaigns into a single, high‑impact event. "If this is a 4Divinity portfolio play, why not go big?" Doust concludes.