These days, with multiple consoles, digitally pre-saved pre-orders, and servers being especially overloaded during a pandemic, knowing the release date of an anticipated video game is one thing. But now, we need to ask: what time on the release date will the game actually be available to play? Thankfully, Square Enix has dropped a ton of updates about their upcoming multiplayer action-RPG Outlanders, including that elusive release time schedule for each console.

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Outriders' launch day remains April 1st (or does it? Yes, it does, this is just a small April Fools joke). According to a thorough Reddit post straight from Square Enix, the preloads for the game differ from console family to console family. For Xbox players One, X, and S, preloading has already begun! For PlayStation players 5 and 4, "pre-loading will begin 48 hours in advance of release time." In the PC world, for Epic Games Store buyers, well, I regret to inform you that "preloading is not currently possible." And for Steam buyers, Square Enix currently does not have preloading capabilities, but "hope to share news about the possibility of it next week."

And what about the actual time you'll be able to play the game? Xbox and PlayStation consoles "will unlock at midnight on April 1st for your specific country," meaning that United States players in an Eastern time zone will be able to play starting at midnight on April 1, but United States players in a Pacific time zone will be able to play starting 9pm on March 31! PC and Stadia players will have to wait a little longer, as the global time for these releases are "on April 1st at 17:00 BST," which for American EST players is 12pm and for American PST players is 9am (and if this confuses you, Square Enix has made a handy-dandy countdown website).

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Image via Square Enix

What else can we expect in the Outriders launch, especially as it differentiates from the demo? Expect lots of bug fixes, balances on various game elements, a default for crossplay between consoles, and an improvement to its grinding system for Legendaries. The game also has a day one patch planned, with elements like frame rates and visual smoothness targeted, in addition to post-launch patches on the way.

Outriders comes to Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Stadia on April 1st, 2021 (at various times). Pre-order the game here.

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