How to configure a pre-order

This article explains how to use the Pricing and Availability page in the Partner Center portal to configure pre-order products. Before you create a pre-order product by using the following instructions, we highly recommend reading Pre-order overview and Plan and manage pre-order products.

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Configuration options

This section explains the options in the Visibility and Schedule sections on the Pricing and Availability page that can be used when configuring pre-orders.

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Visibility

Configure the Visibility section the same way for all use cases.

• Audience selection: use Public Audience or Private Audience. See Visibility - Audiences.
• Discoverability selection: use Make this product available and discoverable in the Microsoft Store.

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Schedule

The Schedule section is slightly different, depending on the use case.

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Seeing the pre-order option

The Pre-order dropdown list will appear only if all the following are true.

• The product will be available only on PC and XBOX.
• The product is an app, Game, Durable with its own Store listing, Durable with Packages, Game Bundle, or Add-on Bundle.
• For Game, Durable, and Durable with Packages products, the release date must be configured.
• For Bundle and Add-on Bundles, the release date or pre-order unlock date must be configured.

If you can’t see the Pre-order section, complete the steps below.

• Confirm that your account has permissions to configure pre-orders. For more information, see Assign product level custom permissions to account users.
• Make sure that the Release date has been set in the Schedule.

If the Pre-Order section still doesn’t show in the UI, do the following:

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Configuring the pre-order option

Here are the options for Pre-order.

• not available: The product won’t be available for pre-order.
• starts at: The product will be available for pre-order at the specified date and time. Make sure the date is before the release date.
• unlocks at: The product will be available for use by customers at the specified date and time. This only applies to Bundle and Add-on Bundle products. This only applies if the Release date isn’t configured. It must be before or the same as the Release date.

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Package management

Products that support packages must have a Certified package before they can be made available for pre-order. If you’re publishing a placeholder package with your pre-order, select the This submission contains placeholder package(s) to enable pre-orders checkbox on the Packages page and then provide the estimated maximum file size for your final packages. For details, see Packages—advanced settings. When configuring pre-orders, publish your final release packages at least seven days before the release date. This allows some time for pre-order participants’ devices to start downloading the package. The product will be unlocked (playable) on the release date, and customers will be able to use it.

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Planning considerations

With pre-order, a confirmed release date is required. Don’t publish a pre-order for a product if the release date is unknown or unconfirmed. It might not be possible to change the configured release date or pre-order unlock date after you’ve started the pre-order. After you publish your product for pre-order, you can’t change the release date if the current release date is in 14 days or less. In addition, if the pre-order period has already started, you can’t change the pre-order’s start date or remove pre-order altogether because some customers might have already pre-ordered the product. Finally, if the product has already been released, you can’t update or remove the pre-order schedule because customers can already acquire the product. For pre-order bundles, you can’t add Consumable products to the bundle after the pre-order has begun.

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Additional considerations for Game pre-orders

All Game products made available for pre-order in the Microsoft Store require:

• A certified Package. Speak to your Microsoft contacts if you’re not ready to submit a game package for Certification, or consider setting up a Wish List page instead of a pre-order.
• Published XBOX services. The XBOX services configuration includes your Achievements, Presence and Multiplayer settings. To prevent unintended exposure of this information, configure XBOX Embargo.

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Additional considerations for Bundle pre-orders

• If you’re configuring a pre-order bundle, the pre-order unlock date or release date applies to all the products that are included in that bundle.

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See also

• Pre-order overview
• Plan and manage pre-order products