Privacy Policy – Ballerspiel, ballerspiel.org and luckywood-studios.de
Preliminary version of 2026-10-26 – legal review in progress. The German version is the reference; this is its translation.
Last updated: October 26, 2026
1. Controller
Luckywood Studios UG (haftungsbeschränkt)
Berkenbrücker Chaussee 13, 14943 Luckenwalde, Germany
Represented by its managing director Dr.-Ing. Nico Zengeler
Email: mail@luckywood-studios.de
We have not appointed a data protection officer; we are not required to (Art. 37 GDPR, Section 38 BDSG).
2. In short
- Ballerspiel contains no ads, no tracking, no analytics and no telemetry that sends data to us. There are no in-game purchases.
- For online play we only process what is technically necessary: your player ID, your display name and your computer's IP address.
- Our official servers keep connection logs for 7 days (logs of crashes 30 days). Your skill levels are kept until you ask us to delete them.
- What we collect, why, where and for how long is listed in the table in section 3.0.
- On LAN and offline against bots, no data reaches us.
- Our website sets no cookies and embeds no third-party services.
3. Data in the game
3.0 Overview: what is collected, how it is used and how it is stored
| Data | Collected from | Used for | Stored where | Stored for how long |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platform account ID (SteamID64 or Epic account ID), display name, language | Steam or your Epic account (sign-in) | signing in, showing your name to other players, choosing the game language | only in the running game on your computer; not stored by us | until you close the game |
| EOS Product User ID | Epic Online Services | cross-platform matchmaking, sessions, achievements | at Epic (EOS); in our server logs as player ID | Epic: per Epic's policy; our logs: 7 days |
| Online status (presence) | your Epic account / EOS | showing friends that you are in a Ballerspiel match and letting them join | at Epic | while you play |
| Friends list and blocked players | your Epic account | read by the Epic Online Services library at sign-in so the Epic overlay can show friends and invites; our game code does not evaluate it | only in the running game on your computer; not stored by us | until you close the game |
| Achievement progress | the game | unlocking achievements | at Steam or Epic (EOS); a local cache on your computer | until you delete it / per the platform's policy |
| IP address, player ID, display name | your computer when joining a server | establishing the connection, game state | in memory of the game server | for the duration of the connection |
| Connection log (time, IP address, player ID, name, map) | our official servers | troubleshooting, abuse prevention | log files on our servers at netcup GmbH (Germany, USA or Singapore – depending on the server you choose) | 7 days; logs of crashes and errors 30 days (section 3.2) |
| Skill levels, colour, team | our official servers | keeping your progress | save files on the server concerned (Germany, USA or Singapore) | indefinitely, until you ask for deletion |
| Bans, mutes | our official servers | moderation | save files on the server concerned | until lifted |
We do not sell, rent or share this data with anyone for advertising, and we do not combine it with other data.
3.1 Signing in through the platform
Ballerspiel is obtained and launched through Steam (Valve Corporation) or the Epic Games Store (Epic Games, Inc.). For online features the game signs in with the platform:
- Steam: the Steam client provides your SteamID64 and your Steam display name; achievements of the Steam version run through Steam.
- Epic Online Services (EOS): for cross-platform online play the game signs in to EOS. An EOS ID (Product User ID) is created and linked to your Steam or Epic account; to sign in via Steam, a Steam session ticket is sent to Epic. The server list, sessions and the achievements of the Epic version run through EOS.
- Epic account (Epic Account Services): in the Epic Games Store version, you sign in with your Epic account. With your consent the game receives your Epic account ID, display name and language, the display names of linked accounts, your online status (read and update) and your friends list including the players you blocked. The game uses the account ID, display name and language to sign you in and show your name, and the online status to let friends see and join your match; the friends list is read by the Epic Online Services library for the Epic overlay, our game code does not evaluate it. The game keeps this data only in memory while it runs; we do not store it on our servers (apart from the player ID in the connection log, section 3.2). You can withdraw the permission at any time in your Epic account settings (epicgames.com/account/connections).
Who is responsible for this data:
- Valve processes the data of your Steam account under its own responsibility and privacy policy (store.steampowered.com/privacy_agreement).
- Epic Online Services (EOS ID, matchmaking, sessions, achievements of the Epic version): here Epic Games acts for us as a service provider (processor under Art. 28 GDPR) under the agreements for Epic Online Services.
- Your Epic account and the Epic Games Store (Epic Account Services): Epic Games is responsible for these itself, under its privacy policy (epicgames.com/site/privacypolicy).
Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (providing the online game you choose to use).
3.2 Online play on servers
When you join a game, the computer running it (our official server, a community server, or a fellow player's computer hosting the match) processes:
| Data | Purpose | Retention |
|---|---|---|
| IP address, player ID, display name | establishing the connection, transmitting game state | for the duration of the connection |
| Connection log (time, IP address, player ID, name, map) – on our servers only | troubleshooting, abuse prevention | 7 days; logs of crashes and errors 30 days (see below) |
| Skill levels (weapons, health, armor, grenades, movement), player colour, team – linked to your player ID | so you keep your levels on that server | indefinitely, until you ask for deletion |
| Ban list: player ID, last known name, time of ban; mutes: player ID | enforcing bans and mutes set by server administrators | until lifted |
| Admin commands (who, which ID, which command) in the log | accountability of moderation | as the connection log |
Deleting logs: our servers delete every connection log automatically after 7 days. Exception: if a server crashed or reported an error during a run, we keep the log of that run and, where there is one, the crash report (a technical snapshot of the server program at the moment of the crash, which may also contain data of the players connected at that time) for 30 days to find and fix the fault; after that they are deleted automatically as well.
Skill levels: Ballerspiel keeps your progress for good – even if you do not play for a long time, your levels should be there when you come back. So we do not delete them after a fixed period but when you ask us to (section 6). Only your player ID, the levels, your player colour and your team are stored.
Text chat: messages are delivered to all players on the same server. Our servers do not store chat messages in normal operation.
Other players see some of your data: your display name, your chat messages and your actions in the game. Anyone hosting a game or connecting by IP address or on LAN receives the IP addresses of the connected computers.
Third-party servers: anyone may run their own Ballerspiel server. Their operators, not we, are responsible for them. Community servers appear in the game's online list (below our official servers) with the name and address their operator sets.
Ping in the server list: as soon as you open the server list, the game automatically measures the response time (ping) to the servers in the list so you can see which server is close. For this your computer sends each of these servers a short test packet (like the "ping" program). Each of these servers – community servers too – receives your IP address, as with any connection on the internet. Only your game shows the results in the list; we do not store them, and our servers do not log these test packets.
Legal bases: Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (online play), Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in secure, abuse-free operation – logs, ban lists).
Our official servers are rented by Luckywood Studios UG from netcup GmbH (Karlsruhe), which acts as our processor (Art. 28 GDPR). They run in data centres in Nuremberg (Germany), Manassas (USA) and Singapore; the region is part of the server name ("Official Ballerspiel | EU | ...", "DE", "US-EAST", "ASIA"). If you join a server in the USA or in Singapore, the data listed above is processed and stored there, outside the EU. We make sure this happens on a basis permitted by the GDPR, in particular through our data processing agreement with netcup and, where required, the EU standard contractual clauses (Art. 46(2)(c) GDPR); you can request a copy of the safeguards. If you only want to use servers in Germany, choose a server with "DE" or "EU" in its name.
List of official servers: at start the game downloads the addresses of our
official servers from https://ballerspiel.org/servers/official.json so they
can be shown at the top of the server list. Our web server logs the same data
as for a page visit (section 4). Nothing is downloaded in LAN or offline play.
3.3 LAN and offline play
On LAN and in matches against bots no data is sent to us or to the platforms (other than what the Steam or Epic client itself does). On LAN the computers involved see each other (IP address, name).
3.4 Data on your computer
The game stores locally: your settings, an achievement cache, the bots (names and levels) and log files. These files do not leave your computer. If you host a game yourself, your computer stores the skill levels and IDs of the players who join (see 3.2). Storing this on your device is strictly necessary for the game to work (Section 25(2) no. 2 TDDDG).
3.5 What the game does not do
No crash reports are sent to us. There are no advertising, analytics or tracking libraries. The Discord button in the main menu only opens our invite in your browser; what happens there is governed by Discord.
4. Websites ballerspiel.org and luckywood-studios.de
Both websites are static, set no cookies, use no analytics and load nothing from third-party servers (videos and fonts are hosted by us).
When you visit them, our web server (data centre of netcup GmbH, Germany) logs: IP address, date and time, requested address, amount of data, referrer and browser identifier. Purpose: delivering the page and security (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). Retention: 14 days.
The contact form in the imprint sends your details (the message, and only if you enter them: name and email address) as an email to mail@luckywood-studios.de; the form service runs on the same server and stores nothing but that email. If you email us or use the form, we process your details to answer your request (Art. 6(1)(b) or (f) GDPR) and delete them once it is settled and no retention obligation applies.
5. Transfers to third countries
Valve and Epic are based in the USA.
- Valve Corporation is certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework; transfers to Valve rely on the European Commission's adequacy decision of 10 July 2023 (Art. 45 GDPR).
- Epic Games, Inc. states that it relies on the EU standard contractual clauses for transfers from the EU (Art. 46(2)(c) GDPR).
For our official servers in the USA and Singapore see section 3.2.
6. Your rights
You have the right of access (Art. 15 GDPR), rectification (Art. 16), erasure (Art. 17), restriction (Art. 18), data portability (Art. 20) and to object to processing based on legitimate interests (Art. 21). Email mail@luckywood-studios.de. Your data on our servers is linked only to your player ID; we find it fastest if you tell us your SteamID64 or Epic account ID or your display name. You do not have to – we will also help you find your ID.
You may lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority, for example the one responsible for us: Die Landesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz und für das Recht auf Akteneinsicht Brandenburg, Stahnsdorfer Damm 77, 14532 Kleinmachnow, Germany.
7. Children
The age limits and parental controls of Steam and the Epic Games Store apply. From all players, minors included, we process only the data described in this policy that the game technically needs; we build no profiles and show no ads. Parents can contact mail@luckywood-studios.de if they want access to or deletion of their child's data.
8. Changes
We update this policy when the game or the law changes. The version published here applies.