“Starfield” tops the PS5 pre-order charts in Europe and the US, but is it overshadowed by new releases in Hong Kong and Japan?

As a “professional adventurer” who’s been wandering in the console camp for years, I’ve always felt that every new platform launch for a game is like the opening day of a parallel-world server. Now it’s Starfield’s turn to land on PS5, the gates officially open tomorrow, and even before they’re fully pushed open, it’s already raised the “No. 1” banner on preorder charts in many Western regions. It feels like your reputation bar has already maxed out in town before you’ve even set off.

Preorder charts, in my eyes, are a bit like the “early reputation system” in an RPG. They don’t necessarily represent final sales, but they do show which faction blew the horn first. In PlayStation stores across Europe and North America, the PS5 version of Starfield is currently the top dog in preorders. This means that even though it has already gone through a full cycle of ups and downs in reviews on other platforms, players in the PS camp are still willing to pay for a “belated journey to the universe,” like a new wave of interstellar immigrants ready to board a long-delayed colonization ship that’s finally arrived.

But once you switch perspective to the Hong Kong and Japan stores, it feels like hopping to another world line. On the preorder charts for these two regions, Capcom’s new title Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess occupies the top spot, with Starfield sitting quietly behind it in second place. This really has that “RPG faction conflict” flavor: on Western servers the “Starfield cult” dominates the ladder, while on some Asian servers the “Capcom faithful” are gathering in their stronghold. Two major factions each occupy their own section of the map, and neither has achieved a true world conquest.

From the perspective of player tastes, I prefer to see this as a direct display of a “cultural stat allocation panel.” Western players generally have a natural fondness for large-scale open worlds, character progression, and space exploration. They’re happy to embrace a long-term game whose content expands like a galaxy; even if it has flaws in the details, they’re willing to treat themselves like NPCs on a test server, watching patiently as patches slowly complete the world. Meanwhile, players on the Hong Kong and Japan stores often focus more on combat feel, system precision, and artistic tone. Capcom is an old master craftsman in these two areas, and the fact that Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess can surpass Starfield at the preorder stage feels more like a “faction bonus” built on long-term trust.

If you’re currently hesitating on the store page, my purchase advice is actually very simple—just divide it by RPG class. If you’re a “world-exploration type,” someone who loves lighting up unknown planets on the star map one by one, and can happily spend half an hour just zoning out in the cockpit watching nebulae, then the PS5 version of Starfield is worth boarding on day one. Even if you’ve heard that it once stumbled on other platforms, this is still a chance to “switch factions and reroll your life.” But if you’re more of an “action-combat type” or a “systems-analyst type,” with a near-religious love for Capcom’s combo feel and combat design, then you can safely hand your budget to Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess first. After you finish that journey, you can decide whether to start a long-term save file in Starfield and slowly set up camp in the depths of space.

Looking at the trend, the way these preorder charts are distributed actually sends a very positive signal to PS5 players: games once seen as “faction-exclusive” are steadily breaking down platform barriers and reaching players in different regions in more diverse ways. Starfield has lit up Europe and North America, while Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is leading the way in Hong Kong and Japan. Two glowing quest markers have appeared on the big PS5 world map. The next choice is up to you adventurers—which main quest do you want to pick up first? Tell me your class and faction in the comments; I’ll be waiting there too, so we can start a brand-new save together.