Can you gift a game that's still only pre-order?

I am trying to GIFT a game to my brother (Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection) but I don't have that option available.

I pre-ordered it for myself right away and wanted to get him set up for it as a birthday gift, but the only available option I have is to install the game. I'm guessing maybe the option isn't there because the game isn't released yet? I tried to look through
other forums and articles but nothing I found touched on that being an issue. Has anyone run into this or heard about it being a thing? Is there another possible reason I wouldn't be able to gift a game?

Thanks

:)

 

Whelp.

You should have bought a 1 month pre-paid Gold card if that's what you wanted. Those gift cards are designed for purchasing games and DLC.

 

Buying as a games as a gift

It may be that not all games can be bought as a gift, or if it is a Pre-Order of a game you have pre-ordered for yourself, the gift option doesn't seem to appear until the release day has passed when it should show the gift option again.

 

Hi there Big Vato, thanks for reaching out to us.

We're afraid that's correct. Game pre-orders are not eligible to be gifted on Xbox Live.

While not all games are made available for gifting, we recommend trying again when the game launches

 

Thanks for clearing it up.

I appreciate the response.