This policy explains what personal data is processed when you visit fervogame.com (the “site”) or email us, why, and what rights you have. The site is operated by Fervo, an independent game studio (“Fervo”, “we”, “us”). You can reach us at hello@fervogame.com.
This policy covers this website only. Our games are sold and distributed through third-party platforms such as Steam, and we’re present on social platforms such as X and YouTube. Those services have their own privacy policies, which apply when you use them (see Third-party platforms).
What we collect
When you browse the site. The site is a collection of static pages. It has no accounts and no comment sections; the only form is the optional newsletter sign-up. To deliver the pages, our web server and our network provider automatically receive standard technical information that every browser sends:
- your IP address;
- the date and time of the request, and the page or file requested;
- your browser’s user agent (browser and operating system type) and the referring page, if your browser sends one.
Anonymous visit statistics. We use Cloudflare Web Analytics to count visits. It does not use cookies, does not use local storage, and does not fingerprint you or track you across sites. It gives us aggregated numbers such as page views, referrers, countries and page load performance.
When you join the newsletter. See Newsletter below for exactly what we store.
When you email us. If you write to hello@fervogame.com, we receive your email address, your name if you include it, and whatever you choose to write.
We do not knowingly collect special categories of data, and we don’t ask for any.
Newsletter
Signing up is optional. You can join from the newsletter page or the sign-up boxes on the home page, game pages and blog posts. We use double opt-in: after you sign up we send one email with a confirmation button, and you’re only added once you press it. If you don’t confirm within 48 hours, the link expires and we don’t email you again.
What we store. When you sign up, we store:
- your email address;
- that you ticked the consent box, the exact consent wording you saw, and the date and time;
- where on the site you signed up (for example “home page” or “Ringfort page”);
- the country your connection came from, as reported by Cloudflare (country only, not your IP address), so we can tell you whether a region-locked giveaway is open to you;
- your subscription status, the dates you subscribed, confirmed or unsubscribed, a random confirmation code and a random unsubscribe code that make the links in our emails work;
- delivery information about the emails we send you (for example whether an email was accepted or bounced), so we can stop emailing addresses that no longer work;
- for newsletter emails, whether and when you opened them and which links you clicked (see Open and click tracking).
We do not store your IP address, browser details or name with your subscription, or with the open and click records.
Spam protection. The sign-up form uses Cloudflare Turnstile to check that a person, not a bot, is signing up. Turnstile loads only once you start using the form. It processes technical signals from your browser and connection (such as your IP address) to make that check, and doesn’t use them for advertising. Cloudflare’s Turnstile privacy addendum applies. We also limit how many sign-up attempts can come from one connection per minute; that counter is temporary and isn’t stored with your subscription. We may check that your email domain exists and can receive mail.
What we use it for. Only to email you Fervo news: launch announcements for Ringfort and One Mote, and occasional free Steam key giveaways. Each giveaway will have its own rules, published when it opens. We send a few emails a year at most. We don’t sell, rent or share the list, and we don’t use it for advertising.
Where it’s kept and how it’s sent. The list is kept in a Cloudflare D1 database in our Cloudflare account. We send the emails ourselves, from our own mail server on our virtual server at Contabo GmbH; we don’t use a third-party email marketing service. Bounce notices and unsubscribe requests sent by email are received through Cloudflare.
Open and click tracking
Our newsletter emails (not the sign-up confirmation email) contain a tracking pixel: a tiny invisible image loaded from fervogame.com. When your email app loads it, we record that this email was opened. Links in newsletter emails go through a short redirect on fervogame.com first, so we can record which link was clicked before sending you on to the page (only ever to fervogame.com, Steam, X or YouTube).
For each open or click we store: which email and campaign it was, which subscriber it belongs to, the date and time, the country the request came from (as reported by Cloudflare; country only, never your IP address), for clicks the link, and a guess at whether it was a person or an automatic process. Some email apps load images or check links automatically. For example, Apple Mail Privacy Protection loads every image whether or not you read the email, and some security filters “click” links to scan them. We flag those as likely automatic, so our numbers are less inflated, but they’re still estimates.
We use this only to see, per email, how many people opened it and which links were useful, so we can send fewer and better emails. We don’t use it for advertising, don’t share it, and don’t combine it with other data about you.
How to avoid it. Block remote images in your email app and the pixel won’t load. The plain-text version of each email has direct links that aren’t tracked. Or email hello@fervogame.com and we’ll switch off open and click tracking for your address. Unsubscribing stops it completely.
How long. We keep your email while you’re subscribed. If you unsubscribe, we stop emailing you straight away and keep a minimal record (your email address, the unsubscribe date and the consent history) so we can prove we respected your choice and don’t email you again by mistake. If you want that record deleted too, ask us.
Unsubscribing and deletion. Every newsletter email includes an unsubscribe link, and supports the one-click unsubscribe button that many email apps show. You can also email hello@fervogame.com to unsubscribe, to ask what we hold about you, or to have your data deleted completely. We’ll act on deletion requests within one month.
Why we use it
| Purpose | Data | Legal basis (GDPR) |
|---|---|---|
| Delivering the site, keeping it secure, preventing abuse and fixing errors | Technical request data (IP address, user agent, time, page) | Legitimate interests (running a secure website) |
| Understanding which pages people read, in aggregate | Anonymous, cookieless visit statistics | Legitimate interests |
| Answering your email | Your email address and message | Legitimate interests, or steps you ask us to take before a contract |
| Sending the newsletter you signed up for | Newsletter data (see Newsletter) | Consent, which you can withdraw at any time by unsubscribing |
| Measuring whether newsletter emails are opened and which links are clicked | Open and click records (see Open and click tracking) | Consent, given with your newsletter sign-up (the sign-up checkbox mentions open/click measurement). You can withdraw it at any time by unsubscribing or by asking us to turn tracking off for your address |
| Keeping bots and abuse out of the sign-up form | Technical signals checked by Cloudflare Turnstile; temporary rate-limit counters | Legitimate interests (protecting the list and the site) |
We don’t use your data for advertising, we don’t build advertising or marketing profiles, and we don’t make automated decisions about you. Open and click records are looked at per email, not to profile individual readers.
Cookies
We don’t set any cookies. (Our newsletter emails use a tracking pixel and tracked links, which aren’t cookies; see Open and click tracking.) Our network provider, Cloudflare, may set a strictly necessary security cookie in some situations, for example when it needs to check that a visitor is not an automated bot. These cookies are not used for tracking or advertising. Details are on our Cookies page.
Who processes it
We don’t sell or rent personal data, and we don’t share it with advertisers. We use a small number of service providers who process data on our behalf:
- Cloudflare, Inc. — content delivery, security, DNS, cookieless web analytics, forwarding of email sent to our @fervogame.com address, and, for the newsletter, bot protection (Turnstile), the database (D1) that stores the subscriber list and the open and click records, serving the tracking pixel and link redirects, and receiving bounce notices and email unsubscribe requests.
- Our hosting provider — the virtual server that stores and serves the site’s files and runs our own mail server that sends the newsletter (Contabo GmbH).
- Google (Gmail) — the mailbox where email sent to hello@fervogame.com is delivered and stored.
We may also disclose data if the law requires it, or to protect our rights or the safety of others.
International transfers
Our providers may process data in countries outside your own, including the United States and the European Union. Where the GDPR applies, these transfers rely on appropriate safeguards such as the EU–US Data Privacy Framework or the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses.
How long we keep it
- Web server access logs are rotated automatically and deleted after about 14 days.
- Cloudflare keeps its own logs and analytics data according to its policies.
- Newsletter data is kept while you’re subscribed; see Newsletter for what happens when you unsubscribe.
- Open and click records are deleted automatically after about 13 months (or straight away if you ask us to delete your data).
- Emails are kept as long as needed to deal with your message and any follow-up. You can ask us to delete them at any time.
Your rights
Depending on where you live, you have rights over your personal data. If you’re in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland (GDPR / UK GDPR), you can ask to access, correct, delete or receive a copy of your data, object to or restrict processing, and complain to your local data protection authority.
If you’re a California resident (CCPA / CPRA), you have the right to know what personal information we collect and how we use it, to request deletion or correction, and not to be discriminated against for exercising these rights. We do not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising, as those terms are defined in California law.
To exercise any of these rights, email hello@fervogame.com. We’ll reply within one month (or the time your local law requires). We may need to ask for information to confirm the request is really from you. Because we keep so little data, often the only data we hold about you is your newsletter subscription or the email you sent us.
Children’s privacy
This site is a general-audience site about video games. It is not directed at children under 13 (or under 16 in the EEA and UK), and we don’t knowingly collect personal data from them. If you believe a child has sent us personal data, please contact us and we’ll delete it.
Third-party platforms
Links on this site lead to services we don’t control, including Steam (Valve Corporation), X and YouTube (Google). When you visit them, buy or wishlist our games, or follow our accounts, their own terms and privacy policies apply. We only see what those platforms choose to show to developers and account owners, usually aggregated statistics.
Security
The site is served only over encrypted HTTPS connections. Access to our server is restricted and protected with key-based authentication. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect the little data we hold.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy when the site or the law changes. We’ll change the effective date at the top of this page, and if a change is significant we’ll say so on the site. Earlier versions are available on request.
Contact
Fervo — hello@fervogame.com