Your privacy is important to Velan Studios and its subsidiaries (“Velan,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). This Privacy Policy describes how Velan collects, handles, and discloses Personal Information (defined below) that we collect when you visit our website or use our products and services. For purposes of this policy, our website, products, and services are described, together, as our “Services.”

This Privacy Policy is incorporated into, and is part of, User Agreement, which governs your access to and your use of our Services. This Privacy Policy does not cover data or information we receive from third parties, and it does not cover third party products and services. If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact us at support@velanstudios.com.

By accessing our Services, you agree to be bound by this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy, please do not use our Services. Each time you use the Services, the current version of this Privacy Policy will apply. Accordingly, when you use the Services, you should check the date of this Privacy Policy (which appears at the top) and review any changes since you last reviewed the Privacy Policy.

PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

“Personal Information” as used in this Privacy Policy means any information that can be used to identify you. The specific Personal Information we collect depends on the Services you use and how you use them, as described below.

Personal Information You Give Us Directly

Velan’s games work primarily through third-party platforms (such as Xbox and PlayStation) and online stores (such as Epic and Steam). As a result, we generally do not receive any Personal Information directly from you unless you contact us and provide Personal Information such as your name, email address, telephone number, and if you contact us for assistance, information about the issue you are experiencing.

You may also provide us with your Personal Information when you utilize features on our website, such as when you sign up for our newsletter, or when you contact or communicate with us.

Personal Information You Provide While Playing our Games on the Internet

Our games may include features that allow you to play or interact with other players on the Internet, such as playing in multiplayer mode. When you play these games on the Internet or participate in social features within the game such as chat, Personal Information you share may be accessed by us or used by other players and may become publicly available, and your game-related statistics may be visible. We may also record your game play and replay such recordings together with your in-game profile and statistics to other players in-game or at live events.

Keep in mind that players that you communicate with may, in some cases, be able to save your information or copy it outside of the game, so don’t send messages or share content that you wouldn’t want another player to save or share.

Other Personal Information We Collect When You Use Our Services

We may collect certain Personal Information automatically when you visit our website or use our Services, such as:

• IP address;

• Information about your device, hardware and software, mobile device identifiers, platform type, settings, components, and presence of plugins;

• Approximate geolocation data (inferred from IP address or device settings);

• Browser information, including your browser type and language preference; and

• Other information you may provide (such as your likeness or image).

We may also collect and store information locally on your device, using mechanisms like cookies, browser web storage, and application data caches, as further described below.

Personal Information Provided to Us by Third Parties

We may receive Personal Information about you contained in third-party user accounts when you access our Services through a third-party game store (such as the Epic Game Store) or platform (such as Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch). Generally, we use this information to provide our Services to you, and to develop, enhance, troubleshoot, analyze and evaluate performance of, and improve our Services. Your use of our Services through these third-parties indicates your agreement for transfer of Personal Information to us. You should refer to the privacy policies of these third-parties for more information concerning Personal Information they collect about you and may transfer to Velan.

When you make purchases, our payment processors collect payment information (e.g., bank account, credit or debit card information, billing address) to process your payment in order to fulfill your orders and provide you with products or services you have requested, in order to perform our contract with you. They also share information with us about your purchases.

Cookies, Analytics, And Other Online Tracking Technologies

When you visit our website, open or click on emails we send you, or interact with our advertisements, we or our third party service providers (such as advertising networks, data enrichment providers, analytics providers, and social media platforms and networks) automatically collect certain information using online tracking technologies such as pixels, web beacons, software developer kits, third-party libraries, and cookies, as further described in more detail below. Some of these technologies may use pixels and tracking codes to identify you by your device information or internet protocol, or IP address, by connecting such information to information available from other sources.

Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your device’s hard drive through your web browser to help us identify you when you come to our website. You have choices with respect to cookies. By modifying your browser preferences, you have the choice to accept all cookies, to be notified when a cookie is set, or to reject all cookies. If you choose to reject all cookies you may be unable to use those aspects of our website that require registration in order to participate. You can learn more about cookies and how they work at www.allaboutcookies.org. You can always disable cookies through your browser settings. Doing so, however, may disable certain features on our website. You can opt-out from third party cookies that are used for advertising purposes on the NAI website at http://www.networkadvertising.org.

We may use third parties, such as Google Analytics or other analytics providers, to analyze traffic to our website. Google Analytics does not create individual profiles for visitors and only collects aggregate data. To disable Google Analytics, please download the browser add-on for the deactivation of Google Analytics provided by Google at http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. To learn more about privacy and Google Analytics, please consult the Google Analytics overview provided by Google at http://www.google.com/intl/en/analytics/privacyoverview.html. You may find additional information about Google Analytics at http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/. You have the option to opt out of Google’s use of cookies by changing your settings through Google Ad Settings via the Google advertising opt-out page.

We also permit third parties and service providers to use online tracking technologies on our Website for analytics, advertising, and data enrichment purposes, including to help manage and display advertisements, to tailor advertisements to your interests, or to send you reminders and notifications (depending on your communication preferences). The third parties and service providers use their technology to provide advertising about products and services tailored to your interests which may appear on our website, on other websites, or in our email communications. These technologies may also use tracking codes to identify you by your device information or internet protocol, or IP address, by connecting such information to information available from other sources, which may include your contact information and other personal information. To the extent these online tracking technologies are considered to be a “sale” or “sharing” of personal information (which includes targeted advertising, as defined under the applicable laws) under applicable privacy laws, you can opt-out of these online tracking technologies by adjusting privacy settings in your browser and on your devices.

To opt-out of our interest-based advertising for our Services, visit Digital Advertising Alliance’s Choices page here and perform a global opt-out. Options you select are browser and device specific. To learn more about interest-Based Advertising, visit the Network Advertising Initiative website and the Digital Advertising Alliance website. The opt-out tool described above is cookie-based. Therefore, the opt-out will only function if your browser is set to accept third-party cookies, and it may not function where cookies are automatically disabled or removed. If you delete cookies, change your browser settings, switch browsers or computers, or use another operating system, you will need to opt-out again.

We use pixel tracking tools from third-parties such as Reddit and Meta. For example, we use Meta Pixel to customize our advertising and to serve you ads on your social media based on your browsing behavior. This allows your behavior to be tracked after you have been redirected to our website by clicking on the Facebook ad. The Meta Pixel stores a cookie on your device to enable us to measure the effectiveness of Facebook ads for statistical and market research purposes. We do not have access to the information collected through the Meta Pixel. However, the information collected via the Meta Pixel is also stored and processed by Facebook. Facebook may link this information to your Facebook account and also use it for its own promotional purposes in accordance with Facebook’s Data Usage Policy. The Meta Pixel also allows Facebook and its partners to show you advertisements on and outside of Facebook. You can opt-out of displaying Facebook ads by visiting your Facebook  Ad Settings, and you can clear and control the information third parties share with Facebook in your Off-Facebook Activity page. If you do not have a Facebook account, you can opt-out of Facebook ads through the Digital Advertising Alliance as described above.

We may also use cookies, pixels, beacons, or other web tracking technologies to track the amount of time spent on our website or social media and whether or not certain content, such as a video was viewed. We may work with a third party to collect and process this information for us, based on our instructions and in compliance with this Policy.

At the present time our website does not respond to “Do Not Track” signals or similar mechanisms.

Game Analytics

We partner with third-parties such as Gamesight Analytics to track the use of our games. We collect and share with these third-party partners information regarding the characteristics and activities of players of our games, including information regarding game purchase activity and in-game events such as downloadable content purchases. The data collected and stored includes information such as hashed IP address, anonymized User ID, timestamp, OS version, screen resolution, timezone, system language, and in-game events. We use this information to analyze the performance of our marketing efforts and the performance of our games.

If you are a player of our games and would like to opt-out of Gamesight Analytics, please complete the opt out form here. The opt-out is specific to Gamesight Analytics and does not affect other tools such as ad networks and other analytics. If you opt-out, we will stop Gamesight Analytics for that device.

Anti-Cheat and Fraud Prevention Technologies

We strive to provide a safe and fair gaming environment for all players. When you play some Velan Studio games, we or third parties with whom we work may use cookies and similar technologies to collect data about your machine or device or to create a machine "fingerprint" or "hash" of your machine components. We and our Third-Party providers use this information for fraud prevention, security, and authentication purposes. We may also monitor publicly-available information, third-party sites, or use anti-cheat technology within our Services, including automated anti-fraud and abuse algorithms.

Employment

If we have collected your Personal Information through our “Careers” page in response to a job opening, you are giving us permission to use and retain your Personal Information for the purpose of evaluating your application for employment consideration for the specific position that you applied to, as well as other roles at Velan. This Personal Information may be processed and stored by a third-party talent tracking solution provider as well as with vendors, consultants, and other service providers who need access to such information to carry out work relating to the recruitment process on our behalf.

Aggregate Information

“Aggregate Information” is information that does not identify you. Aggregate Information may be collected when you use our Services, independent of any information you voluntarily enter. Additionally, we may use one or more processes to de-identify information that contains Personal Information such that only Aggregate Information remains. We may collect, use, store, and transfer Aggregate Information without restriction.

HOW WE USE PERSONAL INFORMATION

In general, we collect information and Personal Information from you so that we can provide our Services, operate our business, and provide information that you request from us. This includes but is not limited to the following:

Operate, improve, and develop our Services;

• Undertake research and analysis to develop and demonstrate our technology, and to better understand our players;

• Populate online leaderboards and enable online matchmaking;

• Provide replays to you and other players via spectator modes;

• Help you find your friends or tell your friends about our Services;

• Facilitate user-prompted sharing on social networks;

• Manage and serve targeted and contextual advertising;

• Measure the effectiveness and distribution of advertising, including understanding who engages with our Services and how they interact with our Services;

• Measure the health of our Services;

• Detect security incidents, protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent or illegal activity, and prosecute those responsible for that activity;

• Set up and maintain accounts for which you register;

• Provide game experiences that you may like;

• Facilitate your gameplay on multiple devices and/or platforms, as applicable;

• Identify, fix, and troubleshoot bugs or functionality errors;

• Provide software updates;

• Authenticate and activate your games and save game-play data, including progress;

• Facilitate competitions and contests;

• Perform audits, transactions, and other compliance activities;

• Adhere to your preferences and to deliver content;

• Help keep our Services safe and fair, resolve disputes, investigate and help curb fraud and illegal behavior, comply with the law, and to enforce our agreements and policies; and

• Other purposes you consent to, are notified of, or are otherwise disclosed to you when you provide personal information.

To provide you with support, including to:

• Help identify and troubleshoot problems with your account or Services;

• Facilitate surveys or questionnaires;

• Communicate with you and respond to your specific requests or questions; and

• Manage and send you confirmations and important information about your account, Services, purchases, subscriptions, and warranties.

To personalize our communications with you, including to:

• Present offers and/or information relating to games and/or Services you might like;

• Make game or other Service recommendations to you; and

• Provide you with Service updates.

HOW WE RETAIN YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

We retain the information we collect for as long as necessary to provide our Services, and we may retain that information beyond that period if necessary for legal, operational, or other legitimate reasons.

INFORMATION WE SHARE WITH THIRD PARTIES

Like most companies, we share information, including Personal Information, in certain circumstances with third parties through operation of our Services and our business. Below we explain when that happens.

Service providers. We employ third parties to collect or process Personal Information on our behalf for the purposes of providing services to us. These purposes include but are not limited to providing IT and related services, facilitating live events, sending emails, or delivering and optimizing our Services. We require that third-parties use the data only on our behalf and for purposes consistent with this policy.

Business partners. We may provide Personal Information to business partners with whom we jointly offer Services. These partners include the companies that provide the platform on which you play our games, such as Epic, Sony (PlayStation), Microsoft (Xbox), or others.

Disclosures to protect us or others. We may access, preserve, and disclose any Personal Information if we believe doing so is required or appropriate to:

• comply with a legal requirement;

• comply with law enforcement or national security requests and legal process, such as a court order or subpoena;

• protect your, our or others’ rights, property, or safety;

• enforce our policies or contracts;

• collect amounts owed to us;

• or assist with an investigation or prosecution of suspected or actual illegal activity. In particular, if we receive a report that you have violated our policies, we may disclose that report and other relevant information to the platform on which you play our games.

Disclosure in the event of merger, sale, or other asset transfer. We may share your Personal Information in the event of a reorganization, divestiture, merger, sale, or bankruptcy, including the evaluation thereof.

Third-party plugins. When Third-Party technologies or social tools are integrated into our Services (“Third-Party Plugins”), the providers of those Third-Party Plugins, such as Discord, may collect information about your use of our Services. Information collected by these Third-Parties is governed by their privacy policies.

Other Game Users. We may also collect, use, store, transmit and publicly display your personal and/or statistical data regarding your game play (including scores, rankings, and accomplishments), or identify content that is created and shared by you with other players.

Cross-Platform Sharing. Certain Velan games allow you to connect and play with friends and members of a game's community, regardless of what platform they play on. We call this ability to match players across platforms "Cross-Play." When Cross-Play is enabled and you play with someone on another platform, that other platform may receive your platform's ID (such as Xbox Gamertag, or Online ID of your account for PlayStation Network) along with other information necessary to enable Cross-Play. In addition, we may provide information regarding your use of Cross-Play features to the platform on which you play our games. You may also be able to continue progress on your game between platforms, as well as enable the ability for your purchases on one platform to be available on another platform. We will share your information with platforms to the extent necessary to enable these features. Other platforms receiving your information may include Sony (PlayStation), Microsoft (Xbox), Nintendo (Nintendo Switch), Google (Stadia), Valve (Steam), Epic, and additional platforms as they become available for these features. Your information received by these platforms is subject to their respective privacy notices. If you do not want your information and Personal Information shared as described above, do not enable Cross-Play.

As directed by you. We share Personal Information when we have your consent to do so, or when you request us to do so.

WHERE WE STORE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Personal information we collect may be stored and processed in the United States or any other country in which Velan or its subcontractors and partners operate. By consenting to the transfer of your Personal Information outside of your country of residence, you acknowledge that your Personal Information may be transferred to recipients in the United States and other countries that may not offer the same level of privacy protection as the laws in your country of residence or citizenship.

HOW WE PROTECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

We employ a range of technical and organizational measures designed to protect your Personal Information. However, no security measures are 100% perfect or effective, especially with respect to systems connected to the internet. Thus, we cannot guarantee the security of your Personal Information and recommend you use care in deciding what information to share with us.

CHILDREN

Our Services are not intended for use by children under the age of 16 and we do not knowingly collect Personal Information from children under age 16.

YOUR CHOICES AND CONTROLS

If you no longer want to receive marketing emails from Velan Studios, you may click the unsubscribe link included in the footer of any marketing email we send. You can also opt out by contacting us at support@velanstudios.com.

To protect your account security and Personal Information, you may be asked to verify your account ownership. Once you have verified your account ownership, you may also be required to provide your confirmation authorizing an agent to exercise these rights on your behalf. If you have additional questions about exercising your privacy rights, you may contact us at support@velanstudios.com.

YOUR RIGHTS

In accordance with applicable law, you may exercise the rights described in this section. Please note that some of the rights may vary depending on your country or state of residence.

Right to Opt-Out of Cookies and Sale/Sharing Using Online Tracking Technologies

Our use of certain online tracking technologies, analytics tools, targeted advertising, and similar technologies may be considered a “sale” / “sharing” of Personal Information under applicable law in certain states. Website visitors from the US may opt out of being tracked by these third parties by clicking the “Your Privacy Choices” link at the bottom of our Website and selecting their preferences.

If you do not have a Velan account or are not logged into your Velan account, your request to opt out of “sale” / “sharing” will be linked to your browser identifier only and will not be  linked to any account information because we will know the connection between your browser and your Velan account.

You may also opt out by broadcasting an Opt-Out Preference Signal, such as the Global Privacy Control (GPC) (on the browsers and/or browser extensions that support such a signal). To download and use a browser supporting the GPC browser signal, click here: https://globalprivacycontrol.org/orgs. If you choose to use the GPC signal, you will need to turn it on for each supported browser or browser extension you use.

If you would like us to make the connection between your browser and your Velan account when you send the opt-out of “sale” / “sharing” of your personal information request or GPC signal, and you have not yet opted out of “sale” / “sharing” your personal information, we recommend you submit a Do Not Sell or Share Personal Information request by clicking the Your Privacy Choices link on our website.

Right to Limit the Use of Sensitive Personal Information

Residents of certain states have the right to limit our use of their sensitive personal information. We only collect sensitive personal information, as defined by applicable law, for the purposes allowed by applicable law or with your consent. We do not collect or process sensitive personal information for inferring characteristics about you. As a result, we do not offer the right to limit the use of sensitive personal information.

The Right to Access, Correct, and Delete Personal Information

You may have the right to request access to and receive details about the personal information we maintain about you and how we have processed it, correct inaccuracies, get a copy of, or delete your personal information. You may also have the right to withdraw your consent to our processing of your personal information. These rights may be limited in some circumstances by applicable law.

Access, Correction, or Deletion You can submit a request to access, correct, or delete your personal information, or withdraw consent, by:

• Calling 1-(888) 469-4919; or

• Emailing us at privacy@velanstudios.com.

Typically, we retain your Personal Information for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by applicable law. Please note that in many situations we must retain all, or a portion, of your Personal Information in order to comply with our legal obligations; resolve disputes; enforce our agreements; protect against fraudulent, deceptive, or illegal activity; or for another one of our business purposes.

You may submit a request for a copy of the information collected about you by following the steps outlined in the “Your Rights” section above. Depending on your state of residence, you may request for a copy of the information up to twice per year per customer.

Responding to Requests

We will respond to requests within the time frame permitted by the applicable law. Please note that we may charge a reasonable fee for multiple requests in the same 12-month period, as permitted by law.

Identity Verification

We will take steps to verify your identity before processing your request. We will not fulfill your request unless you have provided sufficient information for us to reasonably verify you are the individual about whom we collected personal information. If you have a Velan account, we may use our existing Velan account authentication practices to verify your identity. If you do not have a Velan account, we may request additional information about you to verify your identity. We will only use the personal information provided in the verification process to verify your identity or authority to make a request and to track and document request responses, unless you initially provided the information for another purpose.

Authorized Agents

You may also use an authorized agent to exercise your rights on your behalf. If you wish to use an authorized agent, we require that your authorized agent provide written proof to us that he or she is authorized to act on your behalf, and we may also require your authorized agent to verify their own identity. To appoint an authorized agent, please contact us at privacy@velanstudios.com.

Right to Non-Discrimination

We will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights under applicable privacy law, such as denying you products and services, charging you different rates or prices including use of discounts or penalties, or suggesting or providing a different level of service or quality of products to you.

Right to Appeal

Under applicable law, if we decline to take the action requested pursuant to applicable law, we will notify you within 45 days from receipt of your request and our justification for declining to take the requested action. You may have the right to appeal our refusal to a requested action, and instructions on how to avail yourself of the right to appeal will be included in any communication related to your request. We will reply to appeals informing you of any action taken or not taken in response to your appeal within 60 days of receipt of your appeal.

CALIFORNIA AND TEXAS RESIDENTS

This section applies to residents of California and Texas.

Information We Collect

In the preceding 12 months, we have collected the categories of personal information listed below.  For more details about the specific data points we collect, please see the section of the main Privacy Policy entitled PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT.

Categories of Sources

We collect personal information from you when you provide it to us, when you use our Services, and when you interact with us, including through social media. We also automatically collect some information when you visit our website.

We also collect information from third parties and publicly available sources, which include data service providers, social media services, advertising, and market research firms.

For additional details, please see the section of the main Privacy Policy entitled PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT.

Business Purposes for Collecting Personal Information

Collecting and using Personal Information is necessary to our business as video gaming service in order to develop, enhance, and administer our products and services, respond to your requests, inquiries and concerns, inform and educate you about our company and games, and for advertising and marketing purposes. It also helps us to confirm your identity for certain transactions you request or that are initiated on your behalf, improve our game, website and user experience, authenticate users, prevent and detect fraud and potential security issues, and fulfill our legal and regulatory obligations such as tax reporting. Please see the section of the main Privacy Policy entitled PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT.

We do not engage in automated decision making using your personal information.

Sale and Sharing of Personal Information

We may disclose your personal information for the business or commercial purposes set forth in this Privacy Policy.  For more details about our disclosures of personal information, please see the sections of the main Privacy Policy entitled PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT and INFORMATION WE SHARE WITH THIRD PARTIES.

We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information except as set forth in our main privacy policy and as necessary to perform the Services as reasonably expected.

While we do not sell Personal Information in any type of monetary transaction, our use of certain online tracking technologies, analytics tools, targeted advertising, and similar technologies may be considered a “sale” / “sharing” of Personal Information under applicable law in certain states.  To opt-out of being tracked by these technologies, please see the sections of the main Privacy Policy entitled Right to Opt-Out of Cookies and Sale/Sharing Using Online Tracking Technologies and Cookies, Analytics, And Other Online Tracking Technologies.

• Categories of personal information disclosed that may be considered “sale” / “sharing”: Identifiers, Internet or Other Network Activity, Geolocation Data, and Commercial Data.

• Categories of third parties to whom personal information was disclosed that may be considered “sale”/ “sharing” include advertisers and marketing partners, data analytics providers, and social media networks.

Making Requests

Information about how to exercise your rights may be found in the YOUR RIGHTS section above.

RESIDENTS OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AREA, SWITZERLAND OR THE UNITED KINGDOM

Residents of the EEA, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom have additional privacy rights. Information on these rights is provided in our supplemental European Economic Area, Switzerland and United Kingdom Resident Privacy Notice below.

This European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom (UK) and Switzerland Resident Privacy Notice supplements the information contained in our Privacy Policy and applies to residents of the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom (UK) and Switzerland. It contains additional information required by the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and the UK and Swiss equivalents. These provisions, which should be read together with the statements in the main Privacy Policy, explain our practices with regard to data privacy in the EEA, UK and Switzerland.

Controlling Cookies

If you are visiting our Website from the EEA. UK, or Switzerland, then we do not set non-essential cookies unless you accept all cookies on the “cookie banner” via our cookie management tool that launches when you land on our website. 

You can learn about how you can adjust your browser’s settings to limit or disable non-essential cookies and other tracking technologies by visiting the section above.  Strictly necessary cookies cannot be disabled.

THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES

The Services may contain hyperlinks to websites operated by third parties, which may include social media features, such as social media buttons or links. We provide such hyperlinks for your reference and convenience only. We do not control such websites and are not responsible for their content or the privacy or other practices of such websites. It is up to you to read and fully understand their privacy policies. Our inclusion of hyperlinks to such websites does not imply any endorsement of the material on such websites or any association with their operators. If you are submitting information to any such third-party through our Services, you should review and understand that party’s applicable policies, including their privacy policies, before providing your information to the third-party.

CHANGES TO OUR POLICY

We may occasionally update this Privacy Policy. When we do, we will revise the "last updated" date at the top of the policy. If there are material changes to this policy, we will use reasonable efforts to notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes before they take effect or by directly sending you a notification.

CONTACT US

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy please contact us at:

• Toll-Free Telephone: 1-(888) 469-4919

• Email: privacy@velanstudios.com