Pre-order
Pre-purchase · Preorder
A pre-order is a purchase of a game before its release date, often with bonus items, which you can usually cancel up to a point set by the store.
Publishers open pre-orders weeks or months before a game comes out. In return for committing early, buyers often get a pre-order bonus, typically in-game items, and some editions offer early access to the game.
What matters most for the buyer is when a pre-order can be cancelled, and each store sets its own rules.
PlayStation Store (US policy): if you paid more than 14 days before release, you can cancel at any time before the release date; if you paid within 14 days of release, you can cancel up to 14 days after payment. Once you start downloading or streaming the main game, you can no longer get a refund unless it is faulty. Bonus content stops working if you cancel. Physical pre-orders can be cancelled until the order enters shipping, which Sony says is generally until about 8 days before release.
Steam calls them pre-purchases: a pre-purchase of a game that is not yet playable can be refunded at any time before release, and after release the normal 14-day, 2-hour rule applies from the release date. Our guide to Steam refunds has the details.
Pre-order bonuses and edition extras work like other DLC: they add to the game rather than replace it. Recent examples on this site include the pre-order offers for God of War Laufey and Suri: The Seventh Note.
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