4Divinity's Philip Doust explains how distributing Black Myth: Wukong catalysed a major change of strategy for the China-focused publisher

Walking the halls of Gamescom, the biggest, most elaborate booths you'll see will generally have an equally big, familiar name attached. Here's Capcom, Xbox, Sega, EA, Ubisoft, and so on. But at this year's event, a significant chunk of Halls 6 and 7 will be taken up by a name you probably won't be so familiar with: 4Divinity.

"It's enormous by any standard," says Philip Doust, director of 4Divinity's UK entity, of the publisher's Gamescom presence. 4Divinity is bringing six titles to the behind-closed-doors B2B area, five of them to the associated trailer showcases, and four to the B2C showfloor on two separate stands, the biggest of which spans 800 square metres. The publisher is going all out, not only in footprint, but also in spectacle. "We're using one of the best booth builders in Gamescom," Doust says. "There's been no expense spared on that front."

The area for '80s pop-culture RPG Showa American Story, for example, features a rebuilt version of the Hollywood Hills – which have been rebranded the Neo Yokohama Hills in the game's alternative timeline, where the United States is ruled by Japan. "We have a Golden Gate Bridge that stands seven metres high, with the Japanese lanterns on it," Doust adds. "We have a diner we've recreated that you walk into to play the game. It's all very experiential."

"I can't talk [exact] figures, that would be crass," he replies, "but it's millions of dollars of investment.

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