What time can I play my pre-loaded game on Steam?

Question

I've purchased a game on Steam and pre-loaded it so that I can play it on the release date. What I want to know is what time can I play my pre-loaded games?

Is it at:

• Midnight (User's time.)
• Midnight (Somewhere else. i.e. Some specific timezone)
• Some set time (If so, is it always the same or different for each game?)

Answer 1

This depends on a whole lot of factors. The unlock time differs based on the game, the region you're in and even who you are.

For example, Deus Ex: Human Revolution unlocks August 23, 2011 in the US, August 25, 2011 in Australia, August 26, 2011 in Europe and September 8, 2011 in Japan. This will also mean that it is usually midnight at those dates in those regions.

Also notable, Portal 2 unlocked earlier for some users than others, namely those who got a Golden Potato. (Approximately 9 hours earlier.)

However, you can always just check the store page on Steam. It will have a bar showing when it will unlock. For example, for me the page for Deus Ex shows this:

That's midnight on Thursday in my timezone.

Answer 2

It's per-game, and I would assume it's up to the publisher.

For example, going by the Steam pages' time estimates (for me in NA):

• Deus Ex: Human Revolution releases at midnight PDT
• Dead Island releases at midnight EDT
• COD: MW3 releases at noon PST
• Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad releases at noon CDT

As Arda notes it may also be location-dependent.

Answer 3

My guess is that it's probably a set time in a specific time zone (like 10 PM PST, 17 GMT, 18 CET, etc.).

Not sure if this'll help at all, but doesn't it say when It'll approximately unlock? weeks/days/hours?