Pre-Registrations on Google Play: To Do or Not to Do?

Back in March, we launched Bro Royale on Google Play with pre-registrations (pre-regs). Before launching, we persistently tried to find benchmarks for pre-regs on GP, but the exact information was elusive. So, we had to learn the hard way. Here’s what we discovered.

It all started with tests initiated by our talented CMO, Dmitry Sokolov . They showed that in Google Ads, campaigns optimized for pre-regs had a CPI in the US 75% lower than those with standard install optimization using the same creatives. Industry whispers estimated the conversion rate to install at 40%-50%. This meant that, even with average calculations, the cost per install from pre-regs would be cheaper than regular UA. Additionally, we hoped pre-regs would give us the initial boost to spark organic growth and fill our multiplayer project’s CCU. Everything pointed to success, but it wasn’t that simple.

Here are our three key takeaways from the real Bro Royale launch with pre-regs:

1. Massive Peak of Installs in the First Hours

When you hit “Release,” all pre-reg players get notified simultaneously and rush into your game. We hit our peak CCU in the first hour, maintained it for several hours, and then saw a long tail. Ensure your infrastructure can handle this load! If servers or analytics crash, you won’t get a second chance. Fortunately, our CTO ( Mikhail Balabanov ) and backend guru managed to handle 5000+ CCU safely.

2. Players Unaware of Pre-Reg Mechanics on GP

Sometimes, Google Play’s pre-reg mechanism installs the app on a player’s phone silently, as all the consents have already been given. This can infuriate players, leading them to leave angry reviews and one-star ratings for installing "automatically". This can significantly lower your app’s rating and prevent you from getting featured in Google Play’s new releases (ratings need to stay above 4). Prepare your support team to actively manage reviews and responses in the initial hours of release to maintain a high rating. Correct me if I am wrong Ilkka Paananen , but Squad Busters faced a similar issue; their rating dropped below 3.5 in the first days of pre-regs release.

3. Misleading Expectations

Players decide to pre-register based on your ad and app store listing. Avoid any form of misleading content in your game materials and creatives. Disappointed players will be way more ruthless than in a regular UA campaign. For instance, if you showed a creative with a 3D shooter and the game turned out to be a 4x strategy, expect backlash. We managed to avoid significant backlash as we didn’t mislead, but a few complaints did come in.

Overall, the pre-reg mechanism worked well for us because we could react quickly to challenges (major props to our support director, Kate Konnikova ).

We recommend planning your release strategy by combining pre-regs and traditional UA, allocating a larger portion of the budget to classic UA post-launch. This way, the initial boost from pre-regs will ignite a successful game launch, while UA smoothens out any potential negative effects.

Hope this experience helps you in your launches!