The Google Play Store now allows users to pre-register their interest for upcoming apps ahead of official release.
Google has rolled out a new feature on the Play Store which lets users click to register their interest in upcoming apps. Once the app becomes available you’ll receive a notification, allowing you to be among the first to play the game, should you to decide you want to download it.
Glu’s Terminator Genisys: Revolution is the first game to make use of the new feature. Upon searching for the game on the Google Play Store you’ll be presented with a “pre-register” button where you’d usually see a “buy” or “download” one. All you need to do is click that tab to register your interest – it doesn’t cost anything and there’s no commitment to buy the title once it’s released.
If you decide you don’t want the game after all you can de-register your interest just as easily.
So far, we’re told the pre-registration feature will be offered to “selected” app developers rather than all and sundry, and we’d expect it to play a part in the way big-name titles are marketed, such as film tie-ins, sequels and other major money spinners.
At the moment the feature is a relatively harmless system which could benefit users who have genuine interest in upcoming titles, and we hope Google keeps it that way.
Video game pre-order ‘culture’ has been on the receiving end of a pretty sizeable public backlash recently, with gaming communities on Steam and Reddit banding together to show their distaste for developers, who they feel are attempting to cash-in by delivering poorly made titles where the majority of the budget is spent on marketing, rather than the game itself.
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