Walking the bustling corridors of 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 brand most attendees will not recognise: 4Divinity.
"It's enormous by any standard," explains Philip Doust, director of 4Divinity's UK arm, when describing the publisher's Gamescom footprint. The company is presenting six titles in the private B2B zone, five of which will appear in the associated trailer showcases, and four will be displayed on the public show floor across two separate stands.
The larger of those stands covers roughly 800 square metres. But the scale is not limited to square footage – the company is also pulling out all the stops on spectacle. "We hired one of the top booth builders at Gamescom and spared no expense," Doust says. One of the most striking examples is the area dedicated to the 1980s‑style pop‑culture RPG *Showa American Story*.
The set recreates the Hollywood Hills, re‑imagined as "Neo Yokohama Hills" in an alternate timeline where Japan governs the United States. "We built a seven‑metre‑high Golden Gate Bridge adorned with Japanese lanterns, and a fully stocked diner that visitors can walk through to try the game.
It’s all very experiential," Dout adds. When pressed about the cost, Doust refuses to give an exact figure, calling it "crass" to do so, but confirms that the investment runs into the millions of dollars. "The size of our footprint alone shows the level of commitment. It signals how seriously we are taking the Western market – something not every Chinese‑origin company is prepared to do," he notes.
The reason this publisher can afford such a lavish presence is that 4Divinity is part of a larger conglomerate, Singapore‑based GCL Global Holdings, which also owns an imitation‑diamond jewellery business. GCL originally grew out of a physical‑distribution operation called Epicsoft, a business that has been running for almost two decades.
While physical distribution remains a significant revenue stream, Doust acknowledges that the market is shrinking, especially after recent announcements from Sony regarding disc production. "We will continue to produce discs as long as Sony permits it, but we recognise the decline and are shifting toward digital," he says.
4Divinity itself was launched in 2022 as a co‑publisher helping Western developers bring games to Southeast Asia. Doust points out that finding a Western title that performs well in China is a rare feat. The company succeeded with *Atomic Heart*, which saw a huge Chinese audience, and later replicated that success with *Stalker 2*. However, those titles were outliers rather than a sustainable growth engine for GCL, a Nasdaq‑listed entity that needs global scale.
Consequently, 4Divinity pivoted to a global publishing model, signing Chinese‑developed games for worldwide release. By the time Doust joined in late 2024, the portfolio already included a handful of smaller indie projects and the ambitious *Showa American Story*.
Today the slate has expanded to eight games slated for launch over the next two years, marking a rapid growth phase. All of the titles share common traits: they are primarily single‑player experiences lasting 15‑20 hours, positioned at a mid‑tier price point.
This focus on the "squeezed middle" of the market mirrors a strategy employed by U.S. studio ProbablyMonsters. Doust believes this segment captures current player desire: "People don’t have time for 200‑hour live‑service games.
The $80 AAA titles are reserved for a few blockbuster franchises. But many gamers are willing to spend $40‑50 on a high‑quality single‑player adventure." Developing such games is costly – typically $5‑$20 million per title – regardless of whether the studio is in China or the West. To break even, a game needs to sell roughly a million copies, a target that is increasingly difficult due to discoverability challenges.
4Divinity’s approach also diverges in its emphasis on new intellectual property. "Everything you’ll see at Gamescom is brand‑new IP, even in China. In the West, big publishers rarely gamble on a single new IP, let alone six," Doust explains. The risk‑averse nature of AAA development has turned many studios into franchise factories, leaving little room for fresh concepts unless a company already controls an established series.
The turning point for 4Divinity, 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 handle global logistics, and 4Divinity stepped in 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 among the first to break through, and more are following. Doust notes that development costs in China are considerably lower; a tax filing suggests *Wukong* cost about 300 million yuan (approximately $44.6 million) to produce, yet it sold 30 million copies, generating a massive profit.
Chinese gamers are also highly price‑sensitive, which shapes 4Divinity’s pricing strategy. By offering affordable, high‑quality single‑player games, the publisher aims to satisfy Western demand for fresh experiences without the astronomical budgets of AAA titles. Doust describes his thesis: "Find common themes – loyalty, trust, defiance, revenge – that resonate across cultures, then market the same game with different messaging for each region. No one has done this effectively yet." In practice, 4Divinity often adopts a "do‑nothing" approach: it markets a game primarily in China and lets a ripple effect generate sales elsewhere.
*Wukong* sold 20 million copies in China and about three to four million outside, an 80/20 split. Doust believes the reverse can also happen, with Western games finding a foothold in Asia through targeted Chinese campaigns. The ultimate goal is to shift the balance toward a 60/40 split, which would dramatically increase unit sales. "If we could replicate *Wukong*’s success with a similar model, we might be looking at the biggest‑selling game ever relative to its development cost," he muses.
To illustrate the two‑way flow, 4Divinity’s 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 company launched the game’s promotion in China first, debuting it at Bilibili World, Shanghai’s massive anime and pop‑culture convention. This early exposure created a groundswell of interest, making China the second‑largest wishlist market after the United States.
The massive Gamescom presence is essentially a Western counterpart to that China‑first strategy. The publisher plans to roll out its games in Cologne shortly after showcasing them at ChinaJoy in Shanghai, aiming to generate simultaneous buzz in both markets rather than chasing a delayed Western surge after Chinese success. Gamescom also serves as 4Divinity’s debut on the Western stage. While the company runs individual game campaigns, the trade show allows it to consolidate all its titles into one high‑impact launch.
"If this is a 4Divinity portfolio push, why not go big?" Doust concludes, underscoring the belief that a bold, unified showcase will amplify the publisher’s visibility and set the tone for its cross‑border ambitions.