Why an Unfamiliar Publisher Is Investing Millions in Its Gamescom Showcase

Walking the bustling corridors of 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 dominated by a company most visitors probably haven’t heard of: 4Divinity. "It’s enormous by any standard," 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 dedicated trailer showcases, while four games will be displayed on two public stands. The larger of those stands covers roughly 800 square metres. Doust stresses that the scale is matched by the ambition of the presentation.

"We’ve hired one of the best booth builders at Gamescom and spared no expense on the construction," he explains. One of the highlights is the area devoted to the 80s‑style pop‑culture RPG *Showa American Story*. The set recreates the Hollywood Hills—rebranded as the Neo‑Yokohama Hills in the game’s alternate timeline where Japan rules 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 while playing the game. It’s a fully immersive experience," Doust adds.

When asked about the cost, Doust declines to give a precise figure, noting that it would be "crass" to do so. "It runs into the millions of dollars.

The sheer size of our footprint should make it clear we’re investing at that level. It reflects how seriously we take the western market—a commitment not all Chinese‑based companies share or understand." The reason many have never heard of 4Divinity, despite its willingness to spend such sums, lies in its corporate structure. 4Divinity is one of several gaming entities owned by Singapore‑based GCL Global Holdings, a conglomerate that also dabbles in an imitation‑diamond jewellery business.

GCL originally grew out of a physical‑distribution operation called Epicsoft, which has been in business for almost two decades. While physical distribution remains a part of the group’s revenue—"as long as Sony continues to produce discs, we’ll keep it going"—Doust acknowledges that the model is in decline and that the company needs a stronger digital focus.

4Divinity was launched in 2022 as a co‑publisher helping western developers bring games to Southeast Asia. Doust notes that finding a western title that resonates in China is challenging.

The firm succeeded with *Atomic Heart*, which performed strongly in the Chinese market, and later with *Stalker 2*. However, those successes were outliers. "From a growth perspective, GCL needed a global publishing model," Doust says, prompting 4Divinity to start signing Chinese‑developed games for worldwide release. The portfolio has expanded rapidly.

Before Doust joined in late 2024, the company had already secured a handful of titles, including a couple of indie projects and the ambitious *Showa American Story*. Today, eight games are slated for release over the next two years, marking a period of intense growth. All of the titles share common characteristics: they are primarily single‑player experiences, lasting around 15–20 hours, and priced in the mid‑tier range. This focus was not pre‑planned but emerged as a coherent strategy aimed at the so‑called "squeezed middle" of the market—a segment also being explored by US firm ProbablyMonsters.

Doust believes this is what many gamers currently crave. "People don’t have the time or desire to invest 200 hours in a live‑service game.

The $80 AAA titles are reserved for a few blockbusters, but there’s a willingness to spend $40‑$50 on a solid single‑player adventure." Developing such games is still costly, typically requiring budgets of $5‑$20 million. Whether produced in China or the West, a game must sell 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 IP.

"Everything you’ll see at Gamescom from us is brand‑new," Doust says. In China, the games are new to the market; in the West, they are entirely fresh concepts.

Larger publishers are reluctant to gamble on multiple new IPs, especially as AAA development becomes increasingly risk‑averse and franchise‑driven. Only a few emerging Chinese studios are willing to take those bets. The turning point for 4Divinity’s global ambition, 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 company, it lacked the infrastructure to handle global logistics, allowing 4Divinity to step in from its Singapore base. *Wukong*’s triumph highlighted a broader opportunity.

Since China lifted its console ban in 2016, many Chinese developers who had been working abroad returned home and formed console‑focused studios. *Black Myth: Wukong* was among the first to succeed internationally, and more such studios are now emerging. With two offices in China, 4Divinity has direct access to this burgeoning pool of talent. Financially, *Wukong* was produced relatively cheaply by western standards—around 300 million yuan (approximately $44.6 million)—yet it sold 30 million copies, generating substantial profit.

Doust points out that development costs in China are lower and Chinese gamers are highly price‑sensitive, shaping 4Divinity’s regional strategy. He argues that while many major publishers have retreated from mid‑budget single‑player games for financial reasons, player demand for such experiences remains strong, creating a "massive drought of supply." Doust’s mission is to bridge western demand for affordable, high‑quality experiences with the supply that Chinese developers can provide. He describes his thesis when joining GCL’s chairman Jacky Choo: "What if we can find common themes between East and West? Loyalty, trust, defiance, revenge—these are universal.

We market the same game with different messaging that resonates in each region. No one has executed this effectively yet." Even without a concerted effort, games will cross borders, but 4Divinity wants to amplify that flow. Doust calls the passive approach the "do‑nothing" business: marketing only in China and hoping for a ripple effect abroad, which typically yields an 80/20 split (80 % of sales in China, 20 % elsewhere).

*Wukong* followed that pattern, selling 20 million copies in China and three‑to‑four million internationally. Doust hopes to shift the balance to 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 modest development budget. The company is pursuing a two‑way Silk Road strategy—promoting Chinese games in the West and western games in China. Currently, its only non‑Chinese title is *Guns Of Eschaton*, developed by Eschatology Entertainment, a new studio based in Cyprus founded by a former Wargaming employee.

The marketing push for that game began in China, where 4Divinity showcased it at Bilibili World, a massive anime and pop‑culture convention in Shanghai. This early exposure generated enough buzz that China became the second‑largest wishlist market for the game after the United States. The massive Gamescom presence mirrors this cross‑border strategy.

4Divinity’s titles will appear in Cologne shortly after a showing at ChinaJoy in Shanghai, ensuring simultaneous exposure in both markets rather than a lagged rollout. Doust explains that Gamescom serves as the publisher’s western coming‑out party. While the company does run individual game campaigns, the trade show allows them to consolidate all their efforts into one high‑impact event. "If this is a 4Divinity portfolio play, where we want to introduce the games—and ourselves—to the West, why not go big?" he concludes.