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 sizeable portion of Halls 6 and 7 will be dominated by a company many attendees may not recognize: 4Divinity. "It’s massive by any metric," says Philip Doust, director of 4Divinity’s UK arm, describing the publisher’s Gamescom footprint. The firm is presenting six titles in the closed‑door B2B zone, five of which will feature in the associated trailer showcases, and four will appear on the public floor across two separate stands.
The larger of those spans roughly 800 square metres. Doust emphasizes that the scale is matched by the level of production: "We’ve hired one of the top booth builders at Gamescom and left no stone unturned." One of the highlighted experiences, the 1980s‑inspired RPG *Showa American Story*, recreates a Hollywood‑Hills‑like setting that the game re‑imagines as Neo‑Yokohama Hills, an alternate timeline where Japan governs 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 while playing the demo. It’s all about immersion," Doust explains.
When pressed about the budget, Doust declines to give an exact figure, noting only that "it runs into the millions of dollars." He adds that the investment signals how seriously 4Divinity is taking the Western market—a stance not all Chinese‑origin firms share or understand. The reason this publisher can afford such a splash is its connection to Singapore‑based GCL Global Holdings, a diversified group that also owns a faux‑diamond jewellery brand. GCL’s core business began nearly two decades ago with Epicsoft, a physical‑media distribution company. While the rise of digital downloads and recent Sony announcements have made disc‑based distribution a shrinking market, Doust says the segment remains important "as long as Sony continues to produce discs," but the group recognises the need to pivot toward digital‑first models.
4Divinity was founded in 2022 as a co‑publisher helping Western developers bring games to Southeast Asia. Doust cites the success of *Atomic Heart*—which performed strongly in China—and the subsequent launch of *Stalker 2* as proof that a Western title can break through in the Chinese market, though those cases were outliers.
"We realised that relying on occasional hits wouldn’t fuel the growth GCL expects as a Nasdaq‑listed company," he says. The solution was to expand into global publishing of Chinese‑made games.
Even before Doust joined in late 2024, the company had secured a handful of titles, including a few indie projects and the ambitious *Showa American Story*. Since then the portfolio has swelled to eight games slated for release over the next two years, marking a rapid expansion phase. All of the announced 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 a strategy pursued by U.S.
studio ProbablyMonsters. Doust believes this is exactly what many gamers are craving today. "People don’t have the time or desire to invest 200 hours in a live‑service game," he says.
"The $80 AAA titles are reserved for a few blockbuster franchises, but there’s a solid appetite for $40‑$50 single‑player adventures." Developing a game in this AA bracket typically costs between $5 million and $20 million. Whether produced in China or the West, those budgets demand sales of roughly a million copies just to break even—a daunting target given today’s discoverability challenges. 4Divinity’s approach also diverges in its emphasis on new intellectual property.
"Everything you’ll see from us at Gamescom is brand‑new IP," Doust notes. Even in China, the titles are fresh, and in the West they are completely untested.
Larger publishers are increasingly risk‑averse, preferring to iterate on existing franchises rather than gamble on new concepts, especially as development costs climb. The turning point for the company, 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, leveraging its Singapore base to bridge the gap for the Chinese developer Game Science. The success of *Wukong* highlighted a broader opportunity: since China lifted its console ban in 2016, many Chinese studios that had been working abroad have returned home, creating a new wave of console‑ready games.
Financially, *Wukong* was produced for roughly 300 million yuan (about $44.6 million) and sold 30 million copies, delivering a staggering profit margin. Doust points out that development costs in China are considerably lower, and Chinese gamers tend to be price‑sensitive, which shapes 4Divinity’s pricing and marketing strategies.
His thesis is simple: match Western demand for affordable, fresh experiences with Chinese developers’ ability to produce quality games at lower cost. "When I started working with Jacky Choo, the GCL chairman, I asked whether we could find thematic common ground between East and West. Themes like loyalty, revenge, and defiance resonate everywhere.
By packaging the same assets with culturally tailored messaging, we can appeal to both markets," Doust explains. Traditionally, many publishers rely on a "do‑nothing" approach—marketing primarily in China and hoping the ripple effect reaches the West, often resulting in an 80/20 sales split favoring China. *Wukong* followed that pattern, selling about 20 million copies domestically and 3‑4 million abroad. Doust hopes to shift the balance to a 60/40 split, which would dramatically increase overall unit sales and potentially make a title one of the best‑selling games of all time relative to its modest budget.
To illustrate the bidirectional strategy, Doust cites the launch of *Guns Of Eschaton*, the only non‑Chinese title in the portfolio, developed by a Cyprus‑based studio founded by a former Wargaming employee. After the announcement, the team took the game to Bilibili World, a massive anime and pop‑culture expo in Shanghai—something few Western publishers would attempt so early in a campaign.
The move generated enough buzz that China became the second‑largest wishlist market behind the United States. The massive Gamescom presence is essentially a Western counterpart to that China‑first rollout. By debuting the games in Cologne shortly after a ChinaJoy showcase, 4Divinity aims to avoid the usual lag where a title gains traction in China first and then scrambles to catch up in the West.
Instead, the company is synchronising marketing pushes across both regions. For 4Divinity, Gamescom is not just about promoting individual games; it serves as a grand introduction to the Western audience. "We could run separate campaigns for each title, and we do to some extent, 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," Doust says.
"If we’re presenting an entire portfolio, why not go big?"