Privacy Policy

Effective Date: August 3, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how KATforge Studios LLC ("KATforge", "we", "us", or "our") collects, uses, discloses, and protects personal information across KATFORGE websites, games, applications, APIs, identity, billing, wallets, and related services (collectively, the "Services").

KATFORGE projects and products are called "Realms." Realms include DarkerDB, GrimVault, Lextris, Gear Goblins, and other products identified as KATFORGE projects. A Realm may publish a supplemental privacy notice describing Realm-specific data. KATforge Studios LLC remains the responsible entity unless a notice expressly states otherwise.

1. Information We Collect

Account and Identity Information

When you create or use a KATFORGE Account, we may collect:

Email address, username, display name, password hash, and account identifiers
Profile, avatar, locale, timezone, and communication preferences
Verification, authentication, session, role, permission, and security information
Phone number if you choose to add one
Linked OAuth-provider identifiers, usernames, email addresses, avatars, and authorization data
Realm memberships and the source of each enrollment

OAuth providers may share different information depending on the provider and permissions shown during authorization. We do not receive your OAuth-provider password.

Realm, Game, and API Information

We may collect information generated when you use a Realm, including:

Game progress, scores, answers, rankings, achievements, and preferences
Realm profiles, saved settings, entitlements, and connected applications
API keys, scopes, permitted origins, usage, rate-limit, and credit information
Content, feedback, files, or other materials you submit
Diagnostic, crash, performance, and support information

Realm-specific notices may describe additional data.

Payment and Transaction Information

We use Stripe to process payments. We may create a Stripe customer record when you create a KATFORGE Account, even before you make a purchase. We may provide Stripe with your email address, KATFORGE user identifier, Realm, plan, product, and transaction metadata.

Payment details entered in Stripe Elements are transmitted directly to Stripe. KATFORGE generally receives:

Stripe customer, payment-method, subscription, payment, and invoice identifiers
Billing name, address, postal code, phone number, or other billing details you provide through Stripe
Card brand, last four digits, expiration date, and default-method status
Billing status, prices, currency, taxes, credits, refunds, disputes, and invoice history
Fraud, authentication, failure, and payment-status signals

KATFORGE does not receive or store the complete card number or card security code. Stripe may process information as our service provider and for its own fraud-prevention, security, authentication, and legal obligations. See Stripe's Privacy Policy.

Communications

We collect communications and related metadata when you:

Contact support or submit a contact form
Subscribe to KATFORGE or Realm updates
Change communication preferences or unsubscribe
Respond to surveys, promotions, or community outreach

We keep records of consent, acknowledgment, checkout, and preference choices. These may include selected channels, Realm, document and disclosure versions, displayed billing terms, source, time, IP address, and user agent.

Usage, Device, and Log Information

We automatically collect information such as:

IP address, browser, operating system, device, language, and approximate region
Pages, referring URLs, timestamps, navigation, interactions, and performance
Authentication attempts, session events, API requests, errors, and security events
Cookie, local-storage, session-storage, and similar identifiers

Cookies and Analytics

We use essential technologies for authentication, security, session continuity, preferences, and basic operation. These include HTTP-only session cookies and browser storage used by KATFORGE and individual Realms.

We use Google Analytics to understand traffic and improve the Services. Google may receive device, browser, interaction, IP-derived, and similar analytics information. We disable Google advertising storage, advertising personalization, advertising user-data signals, and Google Signals for this use. Where applicable law requires prior consent, Analytics remains off until you allow it. Elsewhere, it may operate by default unless you decline. CloudFront supplies a coarse IP-derived country code so the Services can apply the appropriate regional default; the browser receives only the resulting consent requirement. You may allow, decline, or later withdraw optional analytics through the privacy notice or the Manage analytics control in this Policy or Account privacy settings. We also treat an enabled browser Global Privacy Control signal as an analytics decline. Browser controls may clear stored choices.

2. How We Use Information

We use information to:

Create, authenticate, secure, and support Accounts
Provide shared identity, billing, wallet, and Realm features
Enroll Accounts in requested Realms and synchronize entitlements
Process purchases, renewals, invoices, refunds, taxes, and disputes
Operate APIs, enforce plans and limits, and prevent abuse
Maintain, troubleshoot, personalize, and improve the Services
Send transactional, security, billing, support, and legal notices
Send KATFORGE or Realm marketing selected in your preferences
Detect fraud, cheating, misuse, and security threats
Enforce our Terms and comply with legal obligations

3. Platform and Realm Communications

Transactional or relationship messages may be sent when necessary to provide an Account or Service. These include verification, login, security, billing, subscription, legal, support, outage, and material service-change notices.

Marketing preferences are maintained separately. A DarkerDB member may select KATFORGE updates, DarkerDB updates, both, or neither. Where applicable law permits an opt-out model, we may enroll users after clear notice and an opportunity to refuse. Where affirmative consent is required, we request it separately.

You may change marketing preferences through Account settings or use the unsubscribe mechanism in an email. Opting out of marketing does not stop necessary transactional messages.

4. How We Disclose Information

We may disclose information to:

Stripe, card networks, banks, and payment partners for billing, fraud prevention, authentication, and disputes
Hosting, infrastructure, storage, security, and communications providers that operate the Services for us
Analytics providers, such as Google Analytics, when enabled
OAuth providers when you link, authenticate, or unlink an external account
Application stores and distribution platforms, such as Apple, Google, or Steam, for applicable products
Professional advisers and authorities when reasonably necessary to obtain advice, protect rights, or comply with law
Transaction participants in a merger, financing, reorganization, acquisition, or sale, subject to appropriate protections

Realms are products of KATFORGE, so using information across KATFORGE and a Realm is generally internal use by the same company, not a sale to another Realm company.

We do not sell personal information or share it with third parties for cross-context behavioral advertising. We do not use personal information for targeted advertising.

5. Legal Bases for EU and UK Users

Where the GDPR or UK GDPR applies, our legal bases include:

Contract, to provide Accounts, purchases, subscriptions, APIs, and Realm services
Legitimate interests, to secure, maintain, analyze, and improve the Services and prevent abuse
Consent, for optional analytics and marketing where required
Legal obligations, including tax, accounting, consumer, sanctions, and law-enforcement requirements

You may withdraw consent at any time. Withdrawal does not affect processing already performed lawfully.

6. Retention

We retain information only as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described above, including contractual, security, tax, accounting, dispute, and legal requirements.

Generally:

Active Account and Realm data remains while the Account or Service is active
Marketing preferences remain until changed and suppression records may remain to honor opt-outs
Operational and security logs are retained for limited periods appropriate to their purpose
Support and legal records may be retained while reasonably needed to resolve issues or establish rights
Payment, invoice, tax, refund, and dispute records may remain after Account deletion where legally or operationally required
Game or leaderboard history may be retained in anonymized form after Account deletion

When retention is no longer necessary, we delete, anonymize, or securely isolate the information.

7. Account Deletion

Deleting an Account removes or anonymizes Account-linked data according to the affected Service. It does not necessarily delete:

Records required for tax, accounting, fraud, chargeback, or legal purposes
Information already anonymized so it no longer identifies you
Suppression records needed to honor communication opt-outs
Data held independently by Stripe, OAuth providers, app stores, or other third parties under their own policies

Deleting an Account also ends or retires applicable subscriptions and payment methods as described in the Terms.

8. Your Choices and Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to:

Access, correct, or obtain a copy of personal information
Delete personal information
Restrict or object to processing
Withdraw consent
Opt out of marketing
Request data portability
Appeal certain privacy-request decisions
Lodge a complaint with a data-protection authority

US state laws may provide additional rights, including rights concerning access, correction, deletion, portability, targeted advertising, sale, sharing, and sensitive information. We will not discriminate against you for exercising an applicable privacy right.

Send requests to privacy@katforge.com. We may verify your identity before completing a request.

9. International Transfers

KATFORGE is based in the United States. Information may be processed in the United States and other countries whose laws differ from those where you live. Where required, we use recognized safeguards for international transfers, such as contractual protections or an applicable adequacy framework.