Play Store apps can now be listed as ‘coming soon,’ let you ‘pre-register’

As of sometime yesterday, apps in the Play Store can now be listed in search results as “Coming soon”, and clicking on them takes you to a standard listing page that offers the opportunity to “Pre-register”. The first app to take advantage of this functionality is the upcoming Terminator Genisys: Revolution game from Glu…

Pre-registering doesn’t cost anything, but—at least for now—it doesn’t seem to really offer anything of value, either. When you’ve pre-registered for an app or game, you’ll be notified in your Google account when it’s available. Here’s how Google Play puts it:

You’re about to pre-register for TERMINATOR GENISYS: REVOLUTION. Pre-registering means that you will recieve a notification on your device when the app is released. You can unregister by clicking the ‘Unregister’ button.

Curiously, though, in this case, it looks as if Glu is offering some kind of “welcome pack” on its website to those who pre-register on Google Play. The “Download on the App Store” button, on the other hand, simply says “coming soon”.

The Play Store listing doesn’t mention such a welcome pack anywhere, but could this mean that developers have the option of offering special in-app bonuses to those who pre-register before the app/game is available? It’s not clear at this point, but we’ve reached out to Glu to clarify the situation.

Our thoughts: While I could see this becoming a problem of clutter if too many apps take advantage of this feature (especially less important ones), it should theoretically help stop the common occurrence of developers listing their apps on the Play Store with no compatible devices. And, if developers can offer additional goodies to those who pre-register, I could see this becoming a pretty big deal—especially for big hit games (some with Nintendo IP, maybe?).

(via Android Police)