Our Websites, Products, and Services

We refer to the websites and blogs as our “Websites”. The games, products, promotions, and services we offer, for example our video games, are referred to as our “Services” or “Software”. Each of these programs and services may collect information from you, including your personal information, in the manner and means described below. As such, this Privacy Policy applies to all the Websites, Services, and Software that link to this Privacy Policy.

Our Policy Regarding Children

Our Websites, Services, and Software are not intended for children under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect any personal information from such children. If you are under the age of 13, we request that you do not submit any personal information to us. If we later learn that we have inadvertently gathered personal information from a child under the age of 13, regardless of where that child resides, we will remove this information from our records as quickly as possible.

What Information We Collect, Why, and How We Use It

Depending on the manner in which you use our Websites, Services, and Software (including the games and applications you access), we may collect a variety of information and data that could include:

• • Purchases through Third-Party Services and Distributors. Most likely, you will use third-party services to purchase our products and services, including Value’s Steam, Sony’s PlayStation Network, Microsoft’s Xbox Live Service, and similar distribution services. When we receive information from them, we are often provided your name, email address, online ID, country, state or province, language, date of birth, and other social information you provide to them. We use this information to help verify your purchase and to assist our customer support services, including identifying and resolving general issues and problems experienced by you and other Website, Service, and Software users. When we receive this information from these services, we will obtain, store, and remove it in accordance with this Privacy Policy and the laws of the United States and the European Union. We do not receive your credit card number or other financial information from these services.
  • Connecting to Us Through Third-Party Websites and Services. When you connect to our Websites or our Software or Services through a third-party, we often have the ability to collect information about you from these third-parties, depending on the third-party’s terms of service and the privacy settings you have specified. For example, we may have access to your full name, profile picture, user ID, login, email address, physical location, gender, birthday, groups and affiliations, and posts to your friends. If we collect this information, it is because it helps us identify where our Website users are coming from and how they found us. We also use this information to identify trends and interests, which helps us to build the products you want.  If you do not want us collecting or using this information, you can often disable this feature through the settings on the website service you are using. If we have collected this information and you do not want us to use it or store it, please let us know immediately and we will take steps to ensure it is removed from our servers.
  • Connecting to our Websites Directly. When you connect to our Website directly from your Internet browser, we may collect your Internet IP address, type of browser, and operating system you used. We may also collect the date and time you accessed our Website and the pages you visited, along with the search terms you used to find us. We collect this information in the aggregate to get a better idea of how our users are finding us and what search criteria they are using.  By using our Websites, Services, and Software, you are authorizing us to collect, store, and use this information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and the laws of the United States and the European Union.
  • Connecting to Us Through Your Mobile Device. If you use our Websites, Services, and Software from a mobile phone or device, we may collect information from that device including your device type, unique identifier, and other data that you chose to provide or share in accordance with your wireless provider’s terms of use. For example, a push notification from us may appear on your phone in the form of a pop-up message. We may also send push notifications and other information about our Services or Software to your mobile device. Be aware that you have the ability to manage your mobile device push notifications through your device settings and/or through other options your wireless device provider may provide. If you do not want us to send you push notifications or other information in this manner, you may disable them through the settings on your phone. By using our Websites, Services, and Software, you are authorizing us to collect, store, and use your mobile device information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and the laws of the United States and the European Union. If we send you push notifications and you do not want to receive them, please let us know immediately and we will take steps to ensure your information is removed from our servers and push notification services.
  • Information You Provide Through Feedback. Our Websites, Services, and Software may provide you the ability to submit feedback to us, including comments, suggestions, and bugs that you discover in our Software and other Services. When you submit this information, we may collect your name or username and email address in order to follow up with you or thank you for your suggestion. By using our Websites, Services, and Software, you are authorizing us to collect, store, and use your feedback information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and the laws of the United States and the European Union. If we send you a follow up email or notify you in any other way, and you do not want to receive this notification, please let us know immediately and we will take steps to ensure it is removed from our servers and notification services.
  • Using Automated Collection Tools. Our Website, Services, and Software may employ server log files and automated data collection tools, including cookies, tags, and scripts, including Google Analytics and similar services. These tools may track and collect certain information that your browser sends in response, including your IP address, browser type, entrance and exit pages, URLs, platform type, duration on a page, clickstream data, pages viewed, date and time, and other information. When you access our Website, Services, and Software through sites and services that allow us to collect such information, we may collect and associate this information with you. We use this information to identify trends, troubleshoot our games and services, and to better understand who is using our products, which helps us to identify errors and to design new products and services. By using our Website, Services, and Software, you are authorizing us to collect, store, and use this information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and the laws of the United States and the European Union.
  • Information We Obtain For Specific Purposes. On occasion, we may request information from you on a product order form, for promotions and contests, or on other online transaction forms. These requests may ask you to provide contact information (such as your name and mailing or shipping address) and, in some cases, payment information (such as credit card number and credit card expiration date). We use this information to verify orders and to make sure that the individuals participating in our contests and promotions are eligible. By using our Website, Services, and Software, you are authorizing us to collect, store, and use this information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and the laws of the United States and the European Union.
  • Surveys and Contests. When we conduct surveys or initiate contests or other programs, we may ask for your country, date of birth, and telephone number in order to verify who you are and how to contact you. By entering our contests and surveys, you are authorizing us to collect, store, and use your mobile device information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and the laws of the United States and the European Union for a reasonable time in order to aggregate the data we collect from you and others.
  • Geographic and Telemetry Data. Some of our Services and Software may employ the use of tracking technologies, such as pixel tags, web beacons, and programming codes. These technologies may enable us and our partners to derive your physical location based on your IP address, which is used to verify and authenticate users and to identify abuse. By using our Websites, Services, and Software, you are authorizing us to collect, store, and use this information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and the laws of the United States and the European Union.
  • Advertisers. Some of our Services and Software may employ advertising and purchase incentives, which are embedded in our games and services or are provided in conjunction with them. We permit these third-parties to serve these advertisements and to collect information about how you use our products and services, including the device you use, your operating system, your login information, wireless carrier, and the geographical location. We use information from these third-parties primarily to help us deliver relevant advertising to you and to verify your location and use of our products, along with other interests you may have that are beneficial to the design and development of new products. In these cases, we will have written agreements with these vendors so that we know what information is being collected, used, and stored, and to ensure you that they are operating with the laws and regulations of the United States and European Union.

• • We may use session cookies to make it easier for you to navigate our websites and services. A session ID cookie expires when you close your browser. If you disable session cookies, many of the services and products we offer will not operate correctly.
  • In some cases, we use persistent cookies to enable us to track and target our website visitors’ interests and to enhance their overall experience.
  • Additionally, some of our third-party business partners and affiliates may use cookies on our Websites and in the Services and Software we offer, including our development and advertising partners. We have no access to or control over these cookies. This privacy policy only covers the use of cookies by us and does not cover the use of cookies by our advertisers or our third-party business partners and affiliates.

• • Sharing Your Information with Law Enforcement. We may release information concerning your use of our Websites, Services, and Software (including, but not limited to, posted public postings, registration information, network records, and geographic and tracking data) when (a) we believe in good faith that such release is appropriate; (b) to comply with the law (for example, pursuant to a statutory demand, subpoena, warrant, or court order); (c) to protect against fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful use of our Websites, Services, and Software, and to protect our rights and property (including the rights and property of our third-party business partners and affiliates); (d) to enforce any contract between you and us, including with our third-party business partners and affiliates; and (e) if we reasonably believe that a situation involving danger of death or injury to any person requires disclosure.
  • Sharing Your Information with Third-Parties. Neither we nor our third-party business partners or affiliates or developers intend to sell, share or rent information obtained from our Websites, Services, and Software, other than as discussed in this Privacy Policy.