Why an Unfamiliar Publisher Is Investing Millions in Its Gamescom Showcase

Strolling through Gamescom, you’ll instantly recognise the massive booths belonging to household names such as Capcom, Xbox, Sega, EA, Ubisoft and the like. This year, however, a substantial portion of Halls 6 and 7 is dominated by a brand most visitors probably haven’t heard of before: 4Divinity. "It’s huge by any measure," says Philip Doust, director of 4Divinity’s UK arm, describing the company’s Gamescom footprint. The publisher is presenting six titles within the closed‑door B2B zone, five of which will also appear in the adjacent trailer showcases, and four games will be displayed on the public floor across two separate stands—the larger of which covers an impressive 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 top booth‑construction firms at Gamescom and left no stone unturned," Doust adds.

One of the highlights, the area for the 1980s‑style RPG *Showa American Story*, recreates a Hollywood‑Hills‑in‑future‑Japan setting—rebranded as Neo‑Yokohama Hills where the United States is under Japanese rule. "We built a seven‑metre‑high Golden Gate Bridge adorned with Japanese lanterns, and a fully stocked diner that visitors can walk through to experience the game.

It’s all about immersion," he explains. When Doust says no expense was 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 our footprint makes that clear. It shows how seriously we’re taking the Western market, something not every Chinese‑owned company can claim or even understand," he says. The reason you may not recognize 4Divinity, despite its deep pockets, is that it operates under the umbrella of Singapore‑based GCL Global Holdings, a conglomerate that also owns an imitation‑diamond jewellery line. GCL’s roots lie in a physical‑distribution business called Epicsoft, which has been around for nearly two decades.

While that segment remains important—"as long as Sony continues to produce discs, we’ll keep supporting it"—Doust acknowledges the sector is waning, prompting the group to pivot toward digital‑first strategies. Enter 4Divinity, launched in 2022 as a co‑publisher helping Western developers bring games to Southeast Asia. Doust notes, "Finding a Western title that truly resonates in China is extremely challenging. We succeeded with *Atomic Heart*—China was a massive market for it—and repeated that with *Stalker 2*.

But those were exceptions rather than the rule." For a Nasdaq‑listed entity like GCL, sporadic successes weren’t enough. "From a growth standpoint we needed a global publishing model," Doust says. The company began signing Chinese‑developed games for worldwide release even before he joined in late 2024.

By then, they had already secured a handful of smaller indie projects and the ambitious *Showa American Story*. Today, the portfolio has swelled to eight titles slated for launch over the next two years, marking a rapid expansion phase. All of the announced games share common traits: they are primarily single‑player experiences lasting 15‑20 hours, priced in the mid‑tier range. This wasn’t a pre‑planned formula but rather an emerging strategy aimed at the so‑called "squeezed middle" of the market—a niche also pursued by US‑based ProbablyMonsters.

"Players today don’t want to commit 200‑hour live‑service marathons. The $80‑plus AAA titles are reserved for a few franchises. Most gamers are willing to spend $40‑$50 on a solid, story‑driven single‑player game," Doust observes. Developing such games is costly, whether in China or the West, typically requiring budgets of $5‑$20 million.

"You need to sell roughly a million copies just to break even, and that’s a tall order given today’s discoverability challenges," he explains. 4Divinity’s approach also diverges in its emphasis on new IP.

"Everything you’ll see from us at Gamescom is brand‑new IP. Even in China, these are fresh concepts, and in the West they’re completely unknown.

Larger studios rarely gamble on a single new IP, let alone six," Doust says. The rising expense of AAA development has pushed many publishers toward franchise‑centric models, leaving space for smaller studios to innovate.

The turning point for 4Divinity 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: after China lifted its console ban in 2016, many Chinese developers who had been working abroad returned home, forming new console and PC studios. Doust notes that *Wukong* was among the first to capitalize on this shift, and more are following.

Financially, *Wukong* was a triumph. A Chinese tax filing suggests development costs topped 300 million yuan (about $44.6 million), yet the title sold 30 million copies, delivering a substantial profit margin.

"Development costs in China are significantly lower, and Chinese gamers are extremely price‑sensitive," Doust says. This cost advantage shapes 4Divinity’s regional strategy and supports the hypothesis that, while major publishers have retreated from mid‑budget single‑player titles for financial reasons, player appetite for them remains strong—a supply gap the company aims to fill. Doust’s mission is to match Western demand for affordable, high‑quality experiences with the output of Chinese developers who can produce them at lower cost.

"When I started working with Jacky Choo, GCL’s chairman, my thesis was: can we find thematic common ground between East and West? Themes like loyalty, revenge, defiance are universal.

We market the same game with slightly different messaging tailored to each region," he explains, adding that few have executed this cross‑cultural approach effectively. Even without a dedicated marketing push, games tend to cross borders. Doust calls this the "do‑nothing" model: the title is marketed primarily in China, creating a ripple effect abroad, typically resulting in an 80/20 sales split (80 % in China, 20 % elsewhere).

*Wukong* followed that pattern, selling 20 million units domestically and about three‑four million internationally. Doust hopes to shift the ratio toward a 60/40 split, which would dramatically increase overall sales and could potentially make a title one of the best‑selling games ever when measured against its modest development budget. The publisher is pursuing this two‑way flow—East‑to‑West and West‑to‑East—like a modern Silk Road.

Currently, its only non‑Chinese‑origin title is *Guns Of Eschaton*, developed by Eschatology Entertainment, a Cyprus‑based studio founded by a former Wargaming employee. The marketing campaign for that game began at Bilibili World in Shanghai, an unprecedented early‑stage push for a Western title. The move generated enough buzz that China became the second‑largest wishlist market after the United States.

Thus, 4Divinity’s massive Gamescom presence mirrors its broader strategy: showcase its portfolio to Western audiences immediately after a ChinaJoy debut in Shanghai, ensuring simultaneous traction in both regions rather than playing catch‑up after a Chinese hit. While the company could run isolated campaigns for each title, Gamescom offers a consolidated platform to amplify its brand and generate noise in a market where it has historically been quiet. As Doust puts it, "If we’re using Gamescom to introduce our games and ourselves to the West, why not go big?"