This is about the Pre-order Feature and the user experience: https://developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/manage-your-apps-availability/publish-for-pre-order/
Once one app is in pre-order, the App Store page of the app in Pre-order indicates the users the Release date (this date is a mandatory field during the pre-order setup steps), therefore players expect the game to be released at that date.
This gives less flexibility to developers than don't know the exact release date until they're app is almost ready to go Live, and therefore they can't enjoy for a long pre-registration because they can't commit for a specific date.
Comparing with other app stores, the Pre-Registration in the Google Play Store is more flexible because developers don't need to set a release date (just release within 90 days of the pre-registration start date). Or for example the Release date in Steam; where a release date is mandatory, however the developer can chose how the date appears in the store with these options:
- Exact date (day, month, year)
- Month+year
- Quarter + year
- Year
- Coming Soon
- To Be Announced
Having this flexibility would be great. Especially the Coming Soon / TBA ones which are the ones with more flexibility to support long periods and get more pre-orders.
Could you please consider this improvement for how the release date is shown to users in the apps in Pre-Order status?
Thanks