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The computer software can have versions targeting different hardware and operation systems. For example, the same game can be run on PC, Xbox and Mac. My question is - when describing the release of the version targeted the specific environment, which preposition is best to use? E.g.: The company X has finally released their famous Zombie Undeads game on/for/to/? Xbox?

The same question for virtual stores - We plan to release a new version for/on/in/to/? App Store and Google Play in March - which preposition is the most appropriate here?

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The conventions here are fast-moving, but for the most part while the game would be played on a given platform, as a product it would be released for that platform.

With distribution platforms (App Store, Google Play, Steam), the game would be available in or on it (in seems to be favoured for the App Store, since they are more strongly pushing a shop metaphor, on more so for Steam, with Play seeming to lean just slightly toward on), after it had been released to it. Though releasing to it would involved them planning for that platform.

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  • I'm waiting for some clever, economic-minded minion at Microsoft to decide that all this is far too complex, and that all Microsoft products will henceforth be released, available, and played ftoirn various platforms/stores/engines.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Feb 16, 2014 at 1:59
  • @JanusBahsJacquet which will then likely be ignored. Companies tend to do well in having their coinages of new names accepted (though not always), reasonably well with verbs, and be mostly ignored when it comes to prepositions. They sometimes do well in having metaphors adopted though, which does affect the preposition (App Store is a shop, Steam a platform, Play leans toward the latter, Ubuntu Software Centre and Ubuntu One Music Store are a bit less well defined—so something can be in the application or on the platform).
    – Jon Hanna
    Commented Feb 16, 2014 at 13:22

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