Can you see pre-ordered games from friends?

[tschuki]

So my friends birthday is coming up and I wanted to gift him "Ori and the Will of the Wisps" which will release in March. The problem is I am not sure if he already pre-purchased it himself. Would I be able to see it in his profile as an owned game like it works with other released games?

[MoonC A T]

Unfortunately pre-ordered games do not appear in the games list, even if public.

There are a couple ways to know, but they are all based on circumstance:
1) when someone purchases a pre-order game IT DOES appear in the activity feed
2) if that person posts on the discussion forum, the mouse icon, indicating ownership, will appear

There may be more but these are the ones I know.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

If you try to gift it within Steam itself, it will tell you the person already owns it.

[tschuki]

That's good to know, thank you!