Privacy Policy

Blizzard Entertainment® Privacy Policy

Blizzard Entertainment respects the privacy of its players and recognizes the importance of
providing a secure environment for their data. We have adopted this Privacy Policy (“Privacy
Policy”) that explains how and why we collect, store and use the information you provide us.

1. Who is processing your data?

Blizzard Entertainment International, a division of Activision Blizzard International B.V., is

the data controller for the processing of your personal data. We are a registered company located
at

Prinses Beatrixlaan 582, WTC The Hague, Tower E, 6th Floor, 2595 BM The Hague, The
Netherlands.

For the performance of certain games and platform services, your data may be controlled by
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. in the United States. Contact information for the Data Protection
Officer for both of these companies is located in the last section of this document.

2. What information do we collect, and how long do we keep it?

We collect information from or about you in the following ways:

Information provided by you. Information provided by you when you create or update your
account(s); when you are an esports player; while you use our social features and channels to
communicate with others; when you use any of our services for purchases or financial
transactions such as store purchases, in-game purchases, and/or prize processing; and while you
are receiving customer service support.

Information we get or generate from your use of our games or services. We collect data
related to: your game play and in-game activity, the services that you use and how you use them,
and your devices and activities when you install or access our services.

Information collected from external sources. We may receive information about you and your
activities from third parties when you link to external accounts (such as Facebook, PlayStation,
XBOX or Twitch) and from advertisers or service providers about your experiences or
interactions with them. We might also obtain information from public sites on the internet, such
as Twitch, Instagram and YouTube, to mention a few. For example, if you login to a site or app
using Facebook Connect you may be asked if you wish to share information from your Facebook
account with us. If you participate in a game or other feature where your score is posted on social
media content, or if you use a "like" or a "share" button for a feature on our sites or apps, then
the third party may share information with us.

We treat all information associated with your account as personal information. Blizzard
collects the following categories of data depending on which product(s) or service(s) you
are interested in or interacting with. We usually retain data for only as long as necessary to
provide you with products, services and an immersive entertainment experience.
Exceptions are noted below.

ACCOUNT DATA - Player Account Data refers to information that is provided and generated
when a player creates his or her account. Most of this data is available to the player by logging
into his or her account and can be updated by the player in the account settings section.

Examples: Account name, BattleTag, name, email address, preferred language, date of birth,
SMS number, home address, shipping address (on file), account balance, beta opt-in(s), account
links.

Who has access to this type of data? Operations, Game Teams, Esports (if applicable), Customer
Service, Publishing and Security.

CUSTOMER SERVICE - We also use the information we collect while assisting players through
our customer support services to investigate and address players’ concerns and monitor and
improve our services. Information gathered or produced during support of our players is retained
for up to 2 years to ensure that we address concerns and issues in the best way possible.

Examples: Issues raised, case history, restrictions history, contact details, customer service
communications, account notes.

Who has access to this type of data? Most of the time, it’s just Customer Service and Security,
but occasionally Operations, Game Teams and Legal access this data.

SOCIAL DATA - Blizzard uses the information we collect from players’ actions to enable
communications between our players in multiple ways, such as chat, Forums and on-line gaming
(e.g. Fireside Gatherings in Hearthstone).

Examples: Forum content (version, allocation, locale, time zone, access groups, game accounts,
posts), Fireside Gatherings details, chat groups, chat logs, friend lists, profile information.

Who has access to this type of data? Operations, Customer Service, Game Teams, Publishing
and Security.

TRANSACTIONS - We collect transaction details related to the licensing and purchasing of our
products and services, and also the contests and competitions we sponsor. Transaction data may
be retained for up to 7 years (primarily for audit purposes).
Examples: Order details/history, subscriptions, chargebacks, refunds, gifts, payment detail,
shipping details, prize awards and competition accreditation details.

Who has access to this type of data? Operations, Consumer Products (as applicable), Customer
Service, Publishing and Security.

ACTIVITY DATA - When a player interacts with our services, we collect server logs. In most
cases, server logs are retained between 90 days and 1 year.

Examples: IP address, access dates and times, activity region and activity logs.

Who has access to this type of data? Operations, Game Teams, Customer Service and Security.

DEVICE DATA - We may collect information about the devices used to access our services.

Examples: Hardware models, operating systems and versions, unique device identifiers.

Who has access to this type of data? Operations, Game Teams and Security.

COMMUNICATIONS - Blizzard may use the information we collect from players or partners to
communicate with our players about our current and upcoming products, services, promotions,
studies, surveys, news, updates and events. Blizzard may also use this information to promote
and process contests and sweepstakes, fulfill any related awards and serve you relevant ads and
content about our services. Data gathered for a specific occurrence such as surveys and
giveaways are hold no longer than 90 days.

Examples: Name, email address, survey details, purchase/license history, activity history, email
activity, Facebook and Twitter handles.

Who has access to this type of data? Operations and Publishing.

LEGAL RECORDS - We keep records as support for any actual or anticipated legal matter for
up to 7 years.

Examples: Pro-Players' contract agreements, case files.

Who has access to this type of data? Operations and Security.

GAME DATA - Game data are generated while a player plays our games. We keep records of
players’ game licenses, progress, history, stats, in-game purchases and interactions with other
players.

Who has access to this type of data? Operations, Game Teams, Customer Service, Publishing
and Security.
MEDIA INFORMATION – Contact information for journalists and players that have an impact
on our community.

Examples: Discord handle, Reddit handle, Twitch cheer, Twitch handle, Twitter handle.

Who has access to this type of data? Operations, Esports and Publishing.

ESPORTS PLAYER RECORDS/TOURNAMENT DATA - We gather information related to

personal details, rankings, performance stats and team details to follow up on the career and
performance of our competitors. We also collect information related to Tournaments that we
keep for up to 2 years for administrative purposes.

Examples: Contact method, legal guardian details, experience, rate history, rankings,
performance stats, team details and player handle, tournament details.

Who has access to this type of data? Esports and Operations.

ESPORTS REFERENCES/MISC. INFORMATION - We collect information from players who

participate in our esports events to provide personalized care and assistance during competitions.

Examples: Dietary restrictions_, food allergies and clothing sizes._

Who has access to this type of data? Operations and Esports.

ESPORTS TRAVEL DATA - Our tournaments and competitions are hosted all over the world.
Therefore, we collect pro-players’ information needed for travel arrangements and assistance.

Examples: Passport and visa details, default airports, nationalities, travel arrangements details.

Who has access to this type of data? Operations and Esports.

COLLEGIATE EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE INFORMATION. - This type of information is

collected primarily from collegiate esports players to better manage our tournaments.

Examples: School name, transcript, collage major, GPA, company name, job title, residency
status (exchange student).

Who has access to this type of data? Operations and Esports.

3. Why do we process your data?

Blizzard collects and uses your data for the following purposes:
Gameplay Experience. Creating the well-designed, highly enjoyable entertainment experiences
you can find within our epic games! This includes:

Progress and History

Examples of data used:

GAME DATA: Game stats, match history, quest in progress, etc.

In-game Social

Examples of data used:

GAME DATA: Guild information, friends list, etc.

Unlocks

Examples of data used:

GAME DATA: Inventory items: collection of cards, gold, dust, armory, skills, etc.

Game Currency

Examples of data used:

GAME DATA: Earnings history, items a player can/has purchase(d): portraits, skins,
heroes, cards, etc.

Esports Pro-Gaming Competitions and Broadcasting. We bring to you an official network of

professional competitive gaming in many of our franchises. The production of these tournaments
often requires travel, lodging and nutrition. Many of these tournaments are broadcasted and
require player-background information to facilitate a great viewer experience. This includes:

Broadcasting & Production

Examples of data used:

PLAYER RECORDS/STATS: BattleTag, age, country, gender, name, nationality, player

handle, professional team name, professional teammate name(s), tournament team name,
tournament teammate name(s), tournament rank, tournament performance stats, tournament team
rank

EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE INFORMATION: College major, GPA, school name, Tespa

chapter, job title

INFLUENCER INFO: Facebook handle, Instagram handle, Twitch Channel, Twitter handle
Event Travel and Logistics

Examples of data used:

ACCOUNT DATA: Name, email address, age, parental information (if applicable),
BattleTag, phone number, photo

REFERENCES/MISC. INFORMATION: Allergies, disabilities, medications and dietary

restrictions

TRAVEL DATA: Passport details, visa details

PLAYER RECORDS/STATS: Rankings, performance stats, team details, player handle

Tournament Administration

Examples of data used:

ACCOUNT DATA: Name, email address, age, parental information (if applicable),
BattleTag, phone number, photo

Media Information: Tespa ID, PSN account

Collegiate Esports. Whether your goal is to start a Tespa chapter on your campus or join an
established gaming community, Tespa’s support will level up your gaming experience.

Tespa Students

Examples of data used:

TESPA ACCOUNT: Chapter applications, chapters events, chapter meta data, username
and password

ACCOUNT DATA: Name, email address, age, parental information (if applicable),
BattleTag, phone number, photo

Player’s Account, Parental Controls and Security. Players of most of our games use a
Blizzard account to house assets, communicate with friends and learn about our games and
services. Parents of our younger players may set parental controls to monitor and control their
children’s gaming. This includes:

Player's Account

Examples of data used:

ACCOUNT DATA: Name, email address, age, BattleTag

 ACTIVITY DATA: IP address, login information

Parental Control

Examples of data used:

ACCOUNT DATA: Parental control email, child’s account information

Business optimization and service development. We conduct troubleshooting, research,

analysis and product and service development to provide you with the best gameplay experiences
and services. This includes:

Analytics & Data Segmentation

Examples of data used:

ACCOUNT DATA: Blizzard account, country, third parties’ IDs

ACTIVITY DATA: IP address

GAME DATA: Related players, chat records

Training & Development

Examples of data used:

ACCOUNT DATA: Name, phone number, country, home address

ACTIVITY DATA: IP address

GAME DATA: Character name

CUSTOMER SERVICE: Ticket issue description, account notes, Customer Service chat log

Reporting

Examples of data used:

ACCOUNT DATA: Account region, BattleTag

ACTIVITY DATA: IP address, preferred language

TRANSACTIONS: Game Consumable licenses

Global Customer Service. We provide you with personalized support to investigate and address
any possible difficulty you might experience with our games, your account or your purchases.
This includes:

Customer Service

Examples of data used:

ACCOUNT DATA: BattleTag, country, language, phone number/SMS number

ACTIVITY DATA: IP address, region, timestamp

GAME DATA: Game account, guild name, character name

CUSTOMER SERVICE: Chat records, case history

Forum Moderation

Examples of data used:

SOCIAL DATA: Forum posts

Business Operations. We process orders for our products, tournaments and services. This
includes:

Store Purchase

Examples of data used:

ACCOUNT DATA: Email address, BattleTag, country, language, phone number, home
address

ACTIVITY DATA: IP address

TRANSACTIONS: Invoices, refund details, subscriptions, licenses, payment details

Events Ticketing

Examples of data used:

ACCOUNT DATA: Email address, BattleTag, name, phone number, home address, phone
number

Tournament Hosting

Examples of data used:

 ACCOUNT DATA: Name, email address, phone number, address

ESPORTS DATA: Tournament Information, Tournament Organizer details

Social Features. We enable communications and experience sharing between our players. This
includes:

Fireside Gathering Event

Examples of data used:

SOCIAL DATA: Tavern Meetup Details

ACTIVITY DATA: Activity region

Chat Applications

Examples of data used:

ACCOUNT DATA: BattleTag

SOCIAL DATA: About me text, chat records, list of groups you are in

Forums

Examples of data used:

ACCOUNT DATA: BattleTag, account name

GAME DATA: Character name

SOCIAL DATA: Forum content

Communications with our players. We communicate with our players about products, services,
promotions, studies, surveys, news, updates and events. Blizzard may also use the information to
promote and process contests and sweepstakes, fulfill any related awards and serve you relevant
ads and content about our products and games.

Specifically, we use your data for the following Publishing purposes:

Surveys

Examples of data used:

COMMUNICATIONS: Age, country, gender, IP address

Mobile Push Notifications

Example of data used:

DEVICE DATA: Phone Device Token

Analytics & Data Segmentation

Examples of data used:

ACCOUNT DATA: Such as: BattleTag, country, state, postcode or city of residence

GAME DATA: Related players

DEVICE DATA: Device ID

ACTIVITY DATA: IP address

Ad Targeting via “Paid Media” and “Custom Audience” (Your unencrypted personal data are
never shared with third parties without your consent.)

Examples of data used:

ACCOUNT DATA: Such as: BattleTag, name, country, state, postcode or city of residence,
email address, account region

Transactional and Publishing Campaigns and Promotions

Examples of data used:

ACCOUNT DATA: BattleTag, name country, state, postcode or city of residence, email
address, account region

Unethical Behavior Prevention. One of our core values is: Play Nice; Play Fair. We devote
resources to minimize fraud, cheating and abusive behavior. This includes:

Abuse and Cheat Detention

Examples of data used:

ACCOUNT DATA: Account name, country

ACTIVITY DATA: IP address, region

DEVICE DATA: Device ID

 SOCIAL DATA: Related players

GAME DATA: Chat records

Account Compromise Prevention

Examples of data used:

ACCOUNT DATA: Account name, country, BattleTag, date of birth, external account IDs

ACTIVITY DATA: IP address

DEVICE DATA: Device ID

TRANSACTIONS: Payment method

Account Restrictions and Penalties

Examples of data used:

ACCOUNT DATA: Account name, BattleTag

ACTIVITY DATA: Region

CUSTOMER SERVICE: Account restrictions history, penalty history, chat records

Legal proceedings and requirements. We may use the information we collect to investigate or
address claims or disputes relating to your use of Blizzard’s services or as otherwise allowed or
required by applicable law. This includes:

Litigation or Pre-litigation

Examples of data used:

ACCOUNT DATA: Name, home address

CUSTOMER SERVICE: Account notes

LEGAL DATA: Case file

Security Monitoring and Investigations

Examples of data used:

ACCOUNT DATA: Age, name, address, BattleTag, email address, country

 ACTIVITY DATA: IP address

DEVICE DATA: Device ID

SOCIAL DATA: Related players

GAME DATA: Chat records

Legal Compliance

Examples of data used:

ACCOUNT DATA: Age, name

4. What are Blizzard’s legal bases for data processing?

We process the above in accordance with the legal bases determined as follows:

1. Necessary for the performance of your game contract or any other feature you request
or enable. These are required, and ceasing their processing will remove access to certain features
or to the game service altogether. This includes using information for:

 Abuse and Cheat Detention and Sanctions

 Account functionality
 Account Compromise Prevention
 Chat Applications
 Contest Participation
 Global Customer Service
 Enrolled esports
 Forums
 Game functionality
 Parental Control
 Battle.net platform functionality
 Enrolled promotions/contests
 Purchases

2. Consent. You can withdraw your consent to these at any time.

Consent functionality during account creation

 Receive news and exclusive offers about selected third-party products and services –
Carefully selected news, event information and special offers about third-party products
and services
Consent functionality in account management – Communications Preferences

 Receive news and special offers from Blizzard Entertainment by email – Carefully
selected news, event information and special offers about Blizzard products and services
 Receive news and special offers about selected third-party products and services by email
– Carefully selected news, event information and special offers about third-party products
and services
 Have Blizzard offers recommended to me on partner sites based on data Blizzard collects
– Communications personalized to your experience with Blizzard
 Enable Real ID – The first and last names associated with your account will be visible to
Real ID friends. If you do not enable Real ID, only your BattleTag will be visible
 Suggest me to friends of friends – If enabled, friends of your friends may see you in their
suggested friends list
 Receive private chat messages from friends only – If enabled, you can only receive
private chat messages from your friends. This setting may not apply to chat messages
sent in-game

Consent obtained in other instances

 Cookies and Tracking Technology - Information stored on your device (cookies and
similar tracking technology), so that we can better understand how our sites and apps are
used and send more relevant offers to you. See the Tracking Technology section below
regarding how to withdraw this consent.
 Sensitive Data - Such as allergies, disabilities or other health requirements which you
provide when you enroll in an Esports Pro-Gaming competition. Contact
Privacy@Blizzard.com to withdraw this type of consent.

3. Legitimate interest. We use your data for purposes that are not harmful to your privacy and
that can be reasonably expected within the context of your relationship with Blizzard. This
includes using information for:

 Ad Targeting via ‘Paid Media’

 Ad Targeting via ‘Custom Audience’ and similar systems—Appropriate ads for players
considering their previous purchases (Your unencrypted personal data are never shared
with third parties without your consent.)
 Analytics & Data Segmentation
 Business Optimization and Service Development
 Publishing Email - Marketing Campaigns
 Research Groups
 Training & Development
 Customer Support

4. Legal obligation. We process your data due to a legal obligation or right. This includes using
information for:

 Legal Compliance
  Litigation or Pre-litigation
 Security Monitoring and Investigations

5. With whom may we share your data?

Blizzard websites have message boards, forums, and/or chat areas, where users can exchange
ideas and communicate with one another. When posting to a message board, forum, or chat area,
please be aware that the information is being made publicly available on-line and the user does
so at his or her own risk. For certain forums, anyone posting or replying to a post may be doing
so using their Real ID -- that is, their full first and last name -- with the option to also display the
name of their primary in-game character (see discussion regarding Real ID below).

Some of Blizzard’s products, services and features require that we share information with other
users, our partners and service providers, or for legal reasons or in the event of a dispute.

1. With partners and service providers. Blizzard may provide information to its vendors,
consultants, marketing partners, research firms and other service providers or business partners.
For example, we may provide information to such parties to help facilitate event ticket sales,
conduct surveys on our behalf and process payments for our products and/or games.

2. With other players and/or the general public. Information may be viewable by your friends,
people in games, or the public in general if you play our games, use certain features in our
games, use certain features on our platforms (such as chat applications in game or on the
Battle.net platform) or make posts in the forums.

3. With subsidiaries and affiliates. We share information with our subsidiaries and affiliates to
help us provide our services or conduct data processing on our behalf. For example, Blizzard
processes and stores information at Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. in the United States and may
store or process data at Blizzard Entertainment SAS in France.

4. For legal reasons or in the event of a dispute. Blizzard may share your information if we
believe it is required by applicable law, regulation, operating agreement, legal process or
governmental request. This includes sharing your information with law enforcement officials,
government authorities or other third parties as necessary to enforce our Terms of Service, user
agreements or other policies to protect Blizzard’s rights or property or the rights or property of
others, or in the event of a claim or dispute relating to your use of our services.

6. International Transfer

Your personal data will be transferred to and processed in the [United States] where many of our
central databases operate. The European Commission has not issued a decision confirming the
United States to offer adequate protection for personal data. However, we use European
Commission approved contract clauses to protect your personal data. Where we share data with
vendors, we use these clauses, an appropriate Privacy Shield certification or a vendor's Processor
Binding Corporate Rules to protect your data. A copy of the relevant mechanism can be
provided for your review on request to our Data Protection Officer using the details set out
below.

7. What rights do I have?

Access my data:

You may be able to receive a report about the data Blizzard stores about you. To learn more
about accessing your data, please click on this link.

Erasure:

You may have a right to request the deletion of some your data. Blizzard is required by law to
retain certain data. To learn more about having your data erased or anonymized, please click on
this link.

Object:

You may object to the processing of your data if you believe Blizzard doesn’t have the
appropriate rights to engage in that processing or if you wish to ask Blizzard not to process your
personal data for direct marketing purposes. To learn more about making an objection, please
click on this link.

Rectification:

You can correct your personal data if you feel it’s inaccurate. Please log in to your Blizzard
account and use the account management settings to make the changes.

Restrict Processing:

You can request that your data no longer be processed in certain cases, for instance, when you
exercise your right to object as described above. When objecting, you will be given an option to
restrict processing.

Portability:

Data portability is the ability to move data from one company to another (for instance, when you
transfer your mobile phone service to another carrier). While this right is not very applicable to
Blizzard’s current business, we will provide you with an electronic file with your most basic
account information, should you request it. To obtain this file, please click this link
8. What is Real ID?

Real ID friends can see each other’s real-life name and can see each other’s characters across all
Blizzard products and services. By participating in Blizzard’s optional Real ID system, you will
make your real name visible to your friend’s friends, who will also be able to invite you to
become friends.

When you and a friend mutually agree to become Real ID friends, you will have access to a
number of additional features, including the following:

 Real Names for Friends: Your Real ID friends will appear under their real-life names on
your friends list, when chatting, communicating in-game, or viewing a character's profile.
 Cross-Realm and Cross-Game Chat: With Real ID, friends can chat cross-realm, cross-
faction, and cross-game using Blizzard’s products and services.
 Rich Presence: You will see additional info on your friends list about what your Real ID
friends are up to in Blizzard’s products and services in real time.

9. What are tracking technologies, and how are they used?

Blizzard and our partners, such as marketing partners (listed here), may use tracking
technologies like cookies, beacons, tags, scripts and unique codes used in apps. These
technologies are used in analyzing trends, administering the websites or apps, tracking users’
movements around the websites or apps and gathering demographic information about our user
base as a whole. We may receive reports based on the use of these technologies by these
companies on an individual, as well as an aggregated, basis.

We use this technology for various purposes, including our shopping cart, maintenance of user
settings (e.g. language preference) and authentication. Users can control the use of cookies at the
individual browser level. If you reject cookies, you may still use our websites, but your ability to
use some of the features or areas of our websites may be limited.

We may also use clear gifs in our HTML-based emails to let us know which emails have been
opened by recipients. This allows us to gauge the effectiveness of certain communications and
the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns. For this reason, these types of clear gifs are tied to
personal data.

We, and third parties with whom we partner to provide certain features on our websites or to
display advertising based on your web browsing activity, use Local Shared Objects such as Flash
cookies and Local Storage such as HTML5 to store content information and preferences. Various
browsers may offer their own management tools for removing HTML5. To manage Flash
cookies, please click here.
We partner with third party ad networks to either display advertising on our websites or to
manage our advertising on other sites. Our ad network partners may use tracking technologies to
collect information about your activities on this and other websites to provide you targeted
advertising based upon your interests. Some of these ad networks are members of the
Networking Advertising Initiative (“NAI”) and/or the Digital Advertising Alliance (“DAA”) –
organizations who offer a single location to opt out of receiving tailored ads. If you wish not to
have your information used for the purpose of serving you targeted ads, you may opt-out
by visiting the DAA's Consumer Choice page and/or the NAI’s Consumer Opt-Out page. Please
note this does not opt you out of being served advertising. You will continue to receive generic,
or non-targeted, ads. Please also note that we strive to adhere to the DAA's Self-Regulatory
Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising.

10. What are Internet Protocol addresses?

An Internet Protocol ("IP") address is the unique number assigned to your computer. Blizzard
may track such IP addresses for system administration, to report aggregate information, site
tracking, security purposes, or to prevent our servers from being abused. See tracking technology
discussion above.

11. What level of security is applied to your personal information?

To help protect the privacy of the data and personally identifiable information you provide to us
and that we learn from you, we maintain physical, technical and administrative safeguards. We
update and test our security technology on an ongoing basis. In addition, we will take reasonable
steps to assure that third parties to whom we transfer any data will provide sufficient protection
of personal information. We restrict access to your personal data to those employees indicated
above. In addition, we train our employees about the importance of confidentiality and
maintaining the privacy and security of your information.

12. Note to Parents

We recognize a special obligation to protect personal information about children. We urge

parents to instruct their children to never give out their real names, addresses or phone numbers
without permission when they are on-line.

Once a child states that his/her age is under 16, he or she will be unable to register an account
with us. We do not knowingly collect or store any personally identifiable information from
children under the age of 16. If parents believe that we have unintentionally collected their
children’s personal information, they may request the deletion of the information by contacting
us at EU-Privacy@Blizzard.com.
Blizzard has engineered Parental Controls to help parents monitor and limit, if necessary, the
amount of time their children spend interacting with our games. For more information, you may
visit our Parental Controls area at BattleNet Support.

13. Further Information or Complaints

If you have questions or concerns regarding data protection at Blizzard, you may contact our
Data Protection Officer by writing to DPO@Blizzard.com.

Each EU Member State shall provide one or more independent public authority (ies) to be
responsible for monitoring the application of the GDPR in order to protect the fundamental rights
and freedoms of natural persons in relation to processing and to facilitate the free flow of
personal data within the Union (‘supervisory authority’). If you feel that Blizzard has violated
your rights, or if you wish to raise a concern with the data protection authorities, please contact
the supervisory authority in the country where you live, work, or where you believe a breach of
data protection law has occurred.

Blizzard Entertainment Privacy Policy: Greater European Region, updated 4/2018.