Data Protection Notice for Websites and Game App
Thank you for your interest in how we process and protect your personal data when using our websites www.swift-games.com (“Company Website”), www.heroesvhordes.com (“Game Website”) or the Mobile App Game Heroes vs. Hordes (“Game”) described herein (together“Services”).
We want you to feel confident when using our Services.In this Data Protection Notice we want to give you an overview as to how weprocess your personal data and on what statutory bases as well as yourassociated data protection rights.
Relevant statutory provisions are in particular theGeneral Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) as well as applicable national data protection law. Your personal data is any information that can be directly or indirectly be associated with you.
1 Controller
Swift Games GmbH, Kantstraße 102, 10627 Berlin, contact@swift-games.com. (“We” or “Swift Games”) is the Controller of all data processing activities on the websites and in the Game – unlessexplicitly stated otherwise.
2 Processing Activities, Purposes and Legal Basis
In this section we explain which of your personal datais being processed for which purpose when you use our Services, and on whichlegal ground the processing is based.
2.1 Websites
When you visit one of our websites we process technical information, such as your IP address, browser type and location, specific browser settings, interactions with the interface of the site, operating system to properly display the sites and make their functions available. To collect and store this type of data, we may use cookies. Cookies are small files thatare automatically placed on your device and make available certain technical data to us. We only use technologies setting cookies on your device that are strictly necessary for the use of the websites and their functionalities, e.g. for the implementation of animations or viewability of job postings. The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR and Sec. 25 (2) 2. Telecommunications Digital Services Data Protection Act (TDDDG) because the storage of the information on your device and our access to this informationis strictly necessary for us to enable your use of the website and the related data processing activities are hence necessary for us to perform the agreement about the use of the website.
In case you click on a job posting on the Company Website you are being forwarded to our career site. For information on the dataprocessing on our career site and in case you apply for a position, please refer to the Privacy policy for the Swift Games employer branding and recruitment: https://swiftgames.teamtailor.com/privacy-policy.
2.2 Game
2.2.1 Downloading the Game
You can download the Game in the applicable online store for your device: under iOS this is the Apple App Store, under Android this is the Google Play Store. In relation to data processing activities related to the purchase and download of the Game from one of these online stores, please refer to the privacy policy of your App Store Provider:
Apple App Store (Apple Inc.): https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/en-ww/
Google Play Store (Google Inc.): https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-US
2.2.2 Playing the Game
When you use the app and play our Game, we process certain technical information such as device and system information, connection information and location data in order to let the Game run on your device. To track your character development and Game progress, we assign to you an individual Player ID and store with it the relevant Game data, such as level, weapon and hero information to make the Game and your progress available on your device. You may connect the Game to your Apple, Facebook or Google account. If you do so, you gain access to the certain additional Online Functionalities, such as the cloud storage of your Game, personal profile, multiplayer mode, guilds, the leader board and live events. In order to make this function available, we connect your Apple, Facebook or Google account to your player ID. When you connect such an account to your Game, your Name and Game progress may be visible to other players. You can add personal information to your personal profile if you like, such as your name. We regularly scan online Game progress for plausibility (Cheat Detection). In order to do so, we process your Game data and check it for progress that is technically not feasible. In case you join a guild, you gain access to the guild chat. To enable the use of this function, we process your account information and the content of your messages to make it visible to other members of the guild. In case you agree to receive messages from us, we may send you direct messages in relation to the Game. You may configure and disable this function again in the settings of your mobile phone. We log certain events in the Game, such as starting alevel, in-App purchases, all “economy transactions" in the Game as well as Game progress information and other activities in the Game, including technical information, to enable you to play the Game, to provide you with Game support, to monitorand improve the Game’s performance and profitability, including by fixing bugs. We may create anonymous reports from this data for our internal business purposes. The processing activities described in this section occur for the purpose of performing our agreement about the use of the Game in accordance with our Terms of Service (Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR) and to pursue our legitimate interests in providing you with an enjoyable, reliable and secure Game experience and increating statistics to inform the further development and improvement of the Game (Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR).
2.2.3 In-App Purchases
You can buy certain goods in the Shop section of the Game such as Game Credits (“Gems”). When selecting an item in the Shop section you are redirected to your device’s Store to make your purchase with the provider. You may also purchase goods in our Webshop (https://store.heroesvshordes.com). Our Webshop is powered by Xsolla, Inc. Their privacy information can be found intheir Privacy Policy: https://xsolla.com/privacypolicy?_xm=194719.347506237224517701. To add the item to your Game account, we exchange certain Game and purchase data with the provider, such as your Game or Webshop ID and information on the item acquired. We do not receive your payment data from the provider.
We process this data in order to process your purchase and make it available in your Game (Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR).
2.2.4 Advertising
We work with certain advertising partners (which are specified in the declaration of consent) to show you personalized ads. In order to show you advertisements that are relevant to you, we collect and share with these advertising partners certain usage, Game and purchase information, including identifiers, based on your consent (Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR). For the display of personalized advertising in our Game, we rely on the so-called Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) from the IAB. With your consent, we create an individual profile about you and / or target groups into which we classify you (so-called segments) in order to display personalized advertising in the Game. In connection with the display of this advertising, processing is also carried out with your consent to measure the advertising (in particular to determine the performance and success of anadvertisement), for target group research (in particular to learn more aboutthe target groups to which the advertising is displayed), for the developmentof services and for the technical security and optimization of theseadvertising displays. The individual purposes and functions and the processingassigned to them are specified in more detail in the declaration of consent,which you can view and amend under the data settings of the Game.You maydisable cross-platform tracking in the settings of your device. In caseyou do not want to see advertisements when using the game, you may buy ourPremium Package in the Shop.
2.3 Support
If you experience trouble with the Game or have Game-related questions, you can contact us via e-mail or chat on our Discord channel. To process your request, we process the information you provide to us in this matter and your contacts details (mail address or Discord account information). The legal basis for such processing is Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR as far as it is necessary to provide our Services in accordance with the Terms of Service or, as the case maybe, our legitimate interest in adequately responding to your request or enquiry (Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR).
2.4 Discord Community Activities
You may participate in Game-related activities on our Heroes vs. Hordes Discord channel (https://discord.com/invite/h94aqXa2eS). This is an optional feature. For participating, a Discord Account is required. The Discord platform and its functionalities are offered by Discord Inc. We do not receive any data related to your person from Discord directly. For information on the processing and protection of your data in relation to the usage of the Discord platform, please refer to the Discord Data Privacy section of their support website (https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/categories/115000168351). On our Discord channel, you may participate in certain community activities, such as applying for Community or Supporter Roles or obtaining in-Game advantages by participating in certain give-aways. Withinthese events we for example ask for your best Game Screenshots or you can participate in pre-defined rankings. We process your Discord account information and the input you provide to us in order to make available those features to you. If you win a certain tangible item as give away, we process your name and physical address to process the shipment of the item. We hereby pursue our legitimate interest in offering you those features to improve your Game experience (Art. 6(1) (f) GPDR). We may ask you to confirm that we are authorized to publish pictures you provide during such events for marketing purposes. If you do so, we process the information you provided in the event based on your consent (Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR, Para. 22 German Artistic Copyright Act).
2.5 Promotional measures on other platforms
We may promote our Game on social media platforms suchas Instagram, Tiktok and Facebook with a respective Game site or account. Inboxes and commentary sections on those platforms are not monitored and may not be used for Game support. We may receive certain anonymised data from the platform provider on users’ interaction with our Game site or account. Forfurther information please refer to the platform providers’ privacy information:
Instagram (Meta Inc.): https://help.instagram.com/155833707900388
Tiktok(TikTok Pte. Ltd.): https://www.tiktok.com/legal/page/eea/privacy-policy/en
Facebook (Meta Inc.): https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy/
If you contact us on one of those platforms, weprocess your account information and the information you provide to us topursue our legitimate interest in processing your request or enquiry (Art. 6(1) (f) GDPR).
3 Retention of data
We only store your personal data for as long asrequired for the purpose we process them for.
• We store your Game and account data for as long as your Game account exists. After that, we anonymise it within 60 days.
Please note that the Game account is not automatically deleted when you uninstall the Game App from your device. If you want your Game account to be deleted, please contact us under the contact details provided above.
• Support inquiries which you send us by email are deleted within 180 days after weresolved the issue you contacted us for.
4 Data Recipients
We use certain service providers in order to provide you with the Game, who process your personal data on our behalf and according to our instructions. At the moment, we engage technology service providers that provide us with storage capacity, platform distribution and the integration of certain technical functionalities. In case you connect your Game ID to an Apple, Facebook or Google account we share certain Game information with the respective provider. This also applies if you place an in-Game Purchase with your device’s app store (Apple App Store or Google Play Store). You may find information on the processing and protection of your data by the providers here:
Apple Inc.: https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/en-ww/
Google LLC: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-US
Meta Inc. (formerly Facebook): https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy/
For information on how we share your information inconnection with advertisement within the Game, please refer to the privacysettings of your Game.
5 Third Country Data Transfer
If we engage service providers that process your data on our behalf, we ensure that this only takes place within the EU or in a third country that guarantees an adequate level of data protection in accordance with Art. 44 et seqq. GDPR including for the US by way of a certification of the service provider under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework. Otherwise, appropriate safeguards are safeguarded by data transfer agreements incorporating the standard data protection clauses approved by the EU Commission. A copy of the standarddata protection clauses can be obtained e.g. here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj
6 Your Rights
You have the right to obtain information about and access to the personal data concerning you (Art. 15 GDPR). You have the right to rectification (Art. 16 GDPR) and erasure (Art. 17 GDPR). You can request the restriction of processing of your data (Art. 18 GDP) and the portability of your data (Art. 20 GDPR). If the processing is based on your consent (Art. 6 (1)(a) GDPR), you have the right to withdraw this consent at any time with effect for the future. The permissibility of the processing carried out up to that point remains unaffected. Please note that the respective function may then no longer be available to you in case you withdraw your consent.
If the data processing is based on Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR or where we process your personal data for direct marketing purposes, you have the right to object to the processing.
You have the right to lodge a complaint with a dataprotection authority (Art. 77 GDPR).
7 Other
You are not obliged to provide us with your personal data. We may not be able to offer to you the Game or its functionalities without your data. No automated decision-making, including profiling, takes place.
As of July 2024