We've heard that Sunday evening is the best time as this time has the highest download numbers. However, I've also heard that getting it up on Wednesday and Thursday are actually better since this will push your app up into the "new and noteworthy" section come Sunday evening. I've also heard that "new and noteworthy" is refresh every friday. So publishing it on Wednesday and Thursday is just about right to get the app on the "new and noteworthy" radar. Any comments?
Firstly, it is good to pay attention to such details. Most developers don't. As you said, it is best to release a game on Thursday as the App Store get refreshed on Friday. App icons are the ones that matter for first impression. If you have a good App icon and release on Thursday, you have a chance to get featured in "New and Noteworthy".
There's many opinions and none is totally right because Apple editorial teams are just people - sometimes they like a bad game and they put it into New & Noteworthy and sometimes they miss a good game. I'm afraid if you're a small developer without direct contact with Apple you'd better not launch on Thursday because you don't give Apple much time to consider your app for being featured. Just my guess
I have experince while working on my old company Colorbox. In fact, Colorbox is not a big company at all, but we still decide to release game on Thursday and still some of them in New & Noteworthy list, I assume that Apple decide which game to be featured during the review process, once they approved, they should have in mind what to do with your game.
