Terms and conditions
These terms govern the use of playing.company. We have written them to be as clear as possible. For consumers, mandatory statutory rights always take precedence.
§ 1 Scope and definitions
(1) playing.company is a brand; it is not a legal entity. The service is operated by [to be completed before launch], [to be completed before launch] (“we”), which is the provider and your contracting party. These terms apply to all contracts on playing.company with consumers and businesses (“you”). Different terms of businesses only apply if we agree to them in writing.
(2) Definitions:
- Game: a browser game consisting of a game description created by the AI (“GameSpec”) and our game engine (“runtime”).
- World project: a particularly large game of the genres “Builder & Economy” or “Open World 3D” (§ 4).
- Credits: unit of account for builds, changes and media. Credits are not money, not e-money and can only be redeemed for services of playing.company.
- Plan: a subscription (Free, Starter, Creator, Studio, Business) with a monthly credit allowance, either as a monthly or as an annual plan.
- Pack: credits bought once.
- Gift card: a pack in the form of a code that you can give away (§ 7).
- AI media: music, sound effects, voices and video trailers created with AI (§ 5).
- Arcade: the public area with games that users have published.
§ 2 Conclusion of contract
(1) Registering creates a free usage contract (Free plan). You must be at least 16 years old, or between 13 and 15 with your parents’ consent (§ 15).
(2) You order paid plans, packs, gift cards and AI media in your account. Before ordering you see price, term and cancellation conditions and can correct your entries. By clicking “Zahlungspflichtig bestellen” (“Order with obligation to pay”) you make a binding offer. The contract is concluded when we confirm the order or activate the service. We show the confirmation in your account and, where possible, also send it by email.
(3) The contract language is English; the English version of these terms is the binding one. The German version is a translation for convenience. We store the contract text; the current version of the terms is always on this page.
§ 3 Services
(1) You choose genre, scope, style, platforms, game language and extras and describe your idea. An AI creates a game description from it, which our runtime plays in the browser. Afterwards you can change the game by chat, keep it private, share it by link or publish it in the arcade. The functionality per plan is shown in the price overview.
(2) The AI is not deterministic: identical inputs can lead to different results, and results can contain errors. We owe a playable game in the chosen genre and scope, but no particular artistic result. Notes on the limits of AI are under AI transparency.
(3) Game languages: games can be created in 20 languages. The AI creates the texts in the game language; they can contain mistakes or unnatural phrasing, especially in less common languages or right-to-left scripts. There is no claim to native-speaker quality; you can have mistakes corrected by chat.
(4) Instant games: for selections without your own title and idea, your game may come from a stock of games created in advance and is then re-linked to your selection. You still get a playable game in the chosen genre and scope; it may, however, resemble another person’s game. Each stock item is handed out only once.
(5) Statutory rules apply to remedies for digital products (§§ 327 ff. German Civil Code), including necessary updates.
§ 4 World projects
(1) World projects are the genres “Builder & Economy” (2D) and “Open World 3D”. They are available from the Studio plan and cost, per project: 1,920 credits (Builder & Economy) or 2,400 credits (Open World 3D). Open World 3D is also available at the “Epic” scope (2–3 islands, 40–80 missions) for 5,000 credits. You see the price before the build (§ 6).
(2) Each account can build up to 5 world projects per billing month. The monthly credit allowance of the Studio plan (2,500 credits) covers one world project per month; you pay for further ones with pack credits. Epic projects: at most 2 per billing month; they count towards the monthly limit of 5 together with world projects.
(3) What to expect: a world project is a large browser game designed for several hours of play (an aim, not a promise; actual play time depends on the game and on how you play), not a console or studio production. Graphics, physics and scope stay deliberately simple so everything runs right in the browser. The 3D characters and vehicles come from our own library; the AI designs world, missions and texts. On devices with weak graphics performance a world project can run slowly. Because of its scope, building an Epic project takes longer than other builds; if it fails technically, the reserved credits are credited back (§ 6(2)).
(4) Content: world projects are made for everyone aged 12 and up: no weapons, no violence against people or animals, no real brands, city logos, official emblems or real people. Chases end with catching or escaping. This also applies to Epic projects. The usage policy also applies.
§ 5 AI media (music, effects, voices, trailers)
(1) Not available yet: AI media (music, effects, voices, trailers) can currently not be ordered. The offer is planned; this section describes how it is intended to work, without any promise of a date. Credits and plans below are the planned values.
| Medium | Credits | From plan | Provider |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI music & effects | 60 | Starter | ElevenLabs |
| Voice-over | 80 | Creator | ElevenLabs |
| Video trailer | 300 | Creator | BytePlus (Seedance) |
(2) Creation takes time. If creation fails technically, the credits reserved for it are credited back. Because AI results vary, you can have media created again on request (for the price again).
(3) Labelling: all AI media is labelled as AI-generated (visibly, audibly and machine-readably). You must not remove or hide the labelling.
(4) No imitation: you must not ask for imitation of real people, their voices or protected characters, and you must not clone voices. We only use standard voices. We may refuse requests of this kind.
(5) Rights: in AI media we grant you the rights we ourselves receive from the providers, for playing, sharing and – depending on your plan (§ 11(3)) – commercial use of your game. You may use trailers to promote your game. AI media can unintentionally resemble existing works or voices; please check them before publishing and report anything unusual.
(6) Passing on data: for AI media we send data to the providers (details in the privacy policy). You confirm this before buying.
§ 6 Credits, price display and refunds
(1) Price display before the build: before a game is built, we show you the total price in credits. The displayed price applies for 10 minutes from when it is shown. Only when you confirm do we reserve the credits. They are finally deducted only once the game has been delivered.
(1a) Demand-based credit price: when our computing capacity is under high load, the credit price of a build may temporarily rise by up to 30%. The surcharge is the same for all users at the same time (no personalised prices), is shown as a separate line in the quote and applies for 10 minutes from when it is shown; if demand drops in that time, the lower price applies. Euro prices of plans, packs and gift cards are not affected.
(2) Credits back on technical failure: if a build fails technically, the credits reserved for it are credited back. This applies if the build ends with an error, is aborted, times out in the queue, or produces a result that fails our checks or is stopped by the content filter, and no valid game can be delivered. If our cost control ends a build early but a valid intermediate result exists, you receive that result, and optional steps that were skipped are not refunded separately. Extras ordered with a build (e.g. additional languages or finishing polish) that we could not deliver are credited back in proportion. A game that was delivered is not refunded because of its content; you can change it by chat (3). This is a credit refund, not a refund of money; your statutory rights (§ 16 and the remedies for digital products in § 3(5)) remain unaffected.
(3) Changes by chat cost 1 (small), 8 (standard) or 25 (large) credits depending on scope. You see the price before it runs. If the AI doesn’t understand a request, it costs nothing. A remix of a public game costs 50 % less than a new build.
(4) Plan credits are credited at the start of each billing month (also every month on the annual plan) and expire at the end of the month. From the Creator plan, unused plan credits are carried over once into the following month and expire at the end of that month.
(5) Pack credits (also from gift cards) are valid until 31 December of the third year after purchase – also without a plan and after cancelling a plan.
(6) Order: we use carried-over plan credits first, then current plan credits, then pack credits (oldest first).
(7) Credits cannot be transferred and are not paid out, unless the law or these terms (§ 9(5), § 18(2)) provide otherwise. We publish the credit prices for builds in the price overview; changes apply only to future builds and never to credits already reserved.
| Pack | Price | Validity |
|---|---|---|
| 250 credits | €9.99 | until 31 Dec of year 3 after purchase |
| 1,000 credits | €34.99 | until 31 Dec of year 3 after purchase |
| 5,000 credits | €169 | until 31 Dec of year 3 after purchase |
§ 7 Gift cards
(1) You buy a gift card in the denominations of the packs. After payment you get a code that you pass on yourself (printed, as a link or in a message). We don’t contact the recipient.
(2) The gift card is valid until 31 December of the third year after purchase; the exact date is printed on the gift card. It can be redeemed once in your account under “Redeem gift card”. On redemption the full value is added as pack credits; these are valid until the same date, are tied to the account from redemption and can be used bit by bit.
(3) The gift card can be passed on until redeemed: anyone who knows the code can redeem it. So keep it safe. We are not liable for lost or disclosed codes; a gift card that has been redeemed cannot be issued again. There is no cash payout, including for remaining balances. If we discontinue the service, we refund the value of unused credits.
(4) Redeeming requires an account (§ 15). A gift card cannot be used to buy another gift card. If you add a sender name and greeting when buying, everyone who enters the code sees both.
(5) The buyer can withdraw from the purchase as a consumer within 14 days as long as the gift card has not been redeemed (§ 16 and the withdrawal policy). Redeeming consumes the gift card.
§ 8 Prices and payment
| Plan | Monthly plan | Annual plan | Credits | Commercial use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | free | – | 40 credits / month | no |
| Starter | €9.99 / month | €99.90 / year | 300 credits / month | no |
| Creator | €24.99 / month | €249.90 / year | 900 credits / month | yes |
| Studio | €79 / month | €790 / year | 2,500 credits / month | yes |
| Business | €299 / month plus VAT | €2,990 / year plus VAT | 10,000 credits / month | yes |
(1) All prices for consumers include statutory VAT. The Business plan is for businesses only; prices there are plus VAT.
(2) You pay monthly plans monthly in advance. You pay the annual plan for 12 months in advance: 12 months for the price of 10. You pay packs and gift cards once. Stripe processes payment. Payment receipts and invoices are issued as set out in your account and by the payment provider.
§ 9 Term, cancellation, plan changes
(1) Monthly plan: paid plans run for one month and renew automatically for one month at a time unless you cancel. You can cancel at any time to the end of the current billing month.
(2) Annual plan: the annual plan first runs for 12 months. You can cancel at any time up to the end of the 12 months; the plan then ends when the 12 months are over, and you keep all benefits until then. If you don’t cancel, it continues indefinitely on a monthly basis – at the regular monthly price of the plan – and can be cancelled at any time with one month’s notice. It never renews for another year.
(3) You can cancel in your account, by email to markus@explore-saudi.com or with the “Verträge hier kündigen” button (“Cancel contracts here”), which is reachable on every page without signing in (§ 312k German Civil Code). We confirm the cancellation immediately in your account and, where possible, also by email.
(4) An upgrade applies immediately; we charge the price difference for the current period pro rata. A downgrade applies from the next billing period, on the annual plan after the 12 months. You change plans in your account (Stripe customer portal).
(5) The right to terminate for good cause remains unaffected. If we terminate in the ordinary way or for a reason you are not responsible for, we refund unused pack credits pro rata and, on the annual plan, the price for the months not yet elapsed.
(6) You can delete the Free plan and your account at any time in your account.
§ 10 Price changes
We only change prices of running subscriptions with your consent. We inform you by email at least six weeks in advance. If you don’t agree, your subscription continues at the previous price; we can then terminate it with one month’s notice. On an annual plan the agreed price applies for the whole 12-month term. Your pack credits are preserved in any case.
§ 11 Rights in games
(1) Your inputs (idea, title, texts, change requests) remain yours.
(2) Your game: in the game description created for you and the texts it contains, we transfer all rights to you as far as we have them and waive asserting them against you. Our runtime, templates, graphic styles, 3D library, sounds and the playing.company brand remain our property. You receive a simple, non-transferable right of use to the extent needed to play, share and – depending on the plan – export your game. § 5(5) applies to AI media.
(3) Commercial use (e.g. sales, advertising, client projects) is allowed from the Creator plan, for games built during such a plan. On the Free and Starter plans you may use games only privately and non-commercially. Taking part in the Showroom bonus programme (§ 15b) is independent of this: it is a separate platform programme open to all paid plans and gives you no further rights outside playing.company.
(3a) Platform binding: games are made to run in the browser on playing.company and, by default, only there: you play, share and publish them via our site. They cannot be downloaded, and you may not copy our runtime or pass on or resell games as stand-alone products outside the platform. The only exception is the HTML5 export that is part of plans from Creator upwards: with it you may export a game you built during such a plan as a single HTML5 file and use it within the rights in (2) and (3). The AI label must stay in the file, and the runtime contained in it remains our property and is only licensed to you for that game. An export for third-party platforms is planned as an intention only; there is no promise about it, a date or prices.
(4) Licence to us: you grant us a simple, worldwide, royalty-free right to store, technically adapt and display your games and – if you share or publish them – make them publicly available, for as long as they are stored with us. If you publish a game in the arcade, we may show title and preview image in the arcade and on our pages, and other users may play it and remix it within playing.company. Other users’ remixes remain even if you delete your original. Our licence ends when you delete the game; we delete copies in backups in the normal cycle.
§ 12 Content rules, moderation and notice procedure
(1) You are responsible for your inputs and for published games. Our usage policy applies. In particular, the following are prohibited: third-party brands and characters, real people and voices without consent, photos, hate, glorification of violence, sexual content and gambling.
(2) Moderation (Art. 14 DSA): before every build an automatic filter checks texts for protected names and prohibited content and can stop the build. The AI is instructed not to create such content. A human reviews notices. We can remove content, restrict its visibility (e.g. take it out of the arcade), block functions, or suspend accounts temporarily or permanently. We act carefully, objectively and proportionately and take into account the fundamental rights of all parties.
(3) Anyone can report unlawful content via report content or the “Report” button (Art. 16 DSA). If we restrict content or your account, you receive a statement of reasons (Art. 17 DSA) and can object within six months by replying to that email; we then review the decision again. Legal recourse remains open.
(4) You indemnify us against third-party claims based on an infringement caused by you through your inputs or publications, including reasonable costs of legal defence.
§ 13 Availability and capacity
We run the service with reasonable care but do not promise a particular availability; outages of AI providers or announced maintenance can interrupt it. To protect capacity, each plan has a maximum number of builds per day. At high load we may pause new builds briefly; reserved credits are then refunded.
§ 14 Liability
(1) We are liable without limit for intent and gross negligence, for injury to life, body or health, under the Product Liability Act and to the extent of a guarantee.
(2) For slight negligence we are only liable for breach of an essential contractual obligation, whose fulfilment makes proper performance of the contract possible in the first place and on whose observance you can regularly rely – limited to the typical, foreseeable damage.
(3) Liability for data loss is limited to the effort that regular backups (e.g. export) would have required. Statutory remedies remain unaffected.
§ 15 Age limit
Use is permitted from age 16. Teenagers from 13 may use playing.company with their parents’ consent. Minors only enter paid contracts with their parents’ consent (§§ 107 ff. German Civil Code). Use under 13 is not permitted.
§ 15a Showroom, play time and Play Pass
(1) In the Showroom, users make their games publicly available. Anyone can view and play Showroom games. You can always play your own games and games shared only by link without a time limit.
(2) For games whose creator has chosen the “play time price”, the first 10 minutes per game are free. Visitors without an account can play 30 minutes per day in total for free. After that you play with a Play Pass or with play minutes. Games marked “Free for everyone” and playing.company Originals have no time limit.
(3) Play Pass: a subscription for playing all Showroom games without an artificial time cap (fair-use rule: see paragraph 5). Price: €5.99 per month including statutory VAT or €59.90 per year (12 months for the price of 10). The monthly pass renews every month. After 12 months an annual pass continues monthly. You can cancel at any time, effective at the end of the paid term, online using the “Verträge hier kündigen” button. The pass then continues until the end of the paid period.
(3a) Play Pass included: a running yearly subscription to the Business plan (annual payment only, not monthly payment) includes the Play Pass at no extra charge for as long as the paid yearly term runs. One pass per account, not per seat; buying an additional pass is neither necessary nor possible. The fair-use rule in paragraph 5 applies here too. The included pass ends with the yearly term or when you switch to another plan.
(4) Play minutes: you can buy play minutes with credits (1 minute = 1 credit; bundles: 10 min for 10 credits, 30 min for 27 credits, 60 min for 50 credits). Play minutes are valid for all Showroom games with a play time price and expire like credits under § 6. The time actually played counts. The pass takes precedence over play minutes; free time is used first.
(5) Fair use: the Play Pass is meant for normal play. From 65 hours of counted play time in a calendar month it no longer applies for the rest of that month. You can then continue with play minutes.
(6) Time counting: play time in Showroom games with a play time price is counted on our servers. The browser sends a short message at regular intervals. For visitors without an account this happens without cookies and without storage in the browser, see the privacy policy. Technical counting deviations are possible; we correct obvious errors on request.
(7) Withdrawal for digital content: the Play Pass and play minutes are digital content or services provided immediately. The statutory right of withdrawal only expires if, before purchase, you expressly agree that we begin immediately and confirm that you lose your right of withdrawal as a result. We ask for both separately during checkout, and the boxes are never pre-ticked. Details in the withdrawal information.
(8) Start phase: as long as payments are not switched on, nothing is charged; prices and flows shown are then a preview and not yet a binding offer.
§ 15b Creator terms for the Showroom
(1) Publishing: you decide for each game whether it appears in the Showroom. You can withdraw it at any time. By publishing you grant us the non-exclusive right to display and store the game in the Showroom and make it available to play via our platform. Section 11 applies to rights in games otherwise. Your game appears only under a pseudonym (“Creator” with an ID), never with an email address or real name.
(1a) Play time pricing fee: publishing in the Showroom is free. When you switch a game to the “play time price” (para. 2) for the first time, a one-time fee per game applies, currently 200 credits (about €7 at the price of the 1,000 pack; the credits are what counts). It is paid from purchased credits only (pack, gift card, paid plan), not from free or promotional credits. The price is shown in the Studio before you confirm; you are only charged when you click “turn on with payment”. Switching back to “Free for everyone”, turning it on again, withdrawing and publishing again cost nothing more. The fee is credit consumption like building: it creates no claim to payout, refund (except for an error on our side, in which case we refund immediately), players, placement or a bonus. playing.company Originals are exempt.
(2) Play mode: “Free for everyone” is open to every plan. The “play time price” is participation in the Showroom bonus programme and is open to all paid plans (from Starter). The programme is independent of the commercial rights under § 11(3). If you move to the Free plan, your game reverts to “Free for everyone”; play time already counted remains eligible for the bonus.
(3) Bonus (share): we may pay you a bonus of up to 80% of the net revenue from the counted play time of your games (after VAT and payment fees; per month at most what we actually received). For play minutes your share depends on the minutes played in your game. For the Play Pass, the creator share goes into a monthly pool that is distributed to games by Pass minutes played; annual passes count proportionally per month. Your own play time, play time in link-only games, in free mode and in playing.company Originals does not count. What this amounts to in a given case depends solely on how much is played. The bonus is not guaranteed; we give no promise about amount or minimum. Free and promotional credits never count, and in a month we pay out at most 80% of what we actually received net. Payout is possible from €25 after we have received your identity and tax details. Amounts shown for the current month are estimates based on counter values.
(4) Monthly close and payout (start phase): in the start phase we close every calendar month ourselves, by hand, and credit your share as an item in your creator account. Payout requires: a balance of at least €25, that you are at least 18 years old, that you have given us identity and tax details, and your agreement to the creator agreement. We then pay out by bank transfer after the monthly close. There is no automatic payout provider in the start phase; “Request payout” only creates a request that we process at the next monthly close. We may later switch to a payment provider (e.g. Stripe Connect) and will tell you beforehand.
(5) Taxes: you are responsible for taxing your own bonus payments. We provide the information needed for this where we are legally required to.
(6) Content and moderation: games in the Showroom are subject to the content rules and notice procedure under § 12 and the usage guidelines. We can remove games from the Showroom if they break the rules or are under review after reports. We inform you with a statement of reasons and you can object. Play time already counted remains eligible for a share unless the violation is within your responsibility.
§ 16 Right of withdrawal
Consumers have a statutory right of withdrawal. Details and the model withdrawal form are in the withdrawal policy. You can also withdraw online with the “Vertrag widerrufen” button (“Withdraw from contract”).
Voluntarily and on top of your statutory rights: within 14 days of purchase, we will refund the price of a credit pack on request, as long as you haven’t used its credits.
§ 17 Suspension and termination by us
We can terminate the contract with one month’s notice to the end of a month. In case of serious or repeated breaches of these terms or the usage policy we can suspend your account after a warning – in serious cases immediately – or terminate without notice. You receive a statement of reasons. Beforehand you can export your games, as far as your plan allows, and download your data.
§ 18 Changes to the terms
(1) We only change these terms if there is an objective reason (e.g. new laws, new features). Material changes only apply if you expressly agree to them; we inform you at least six weeks in advance. (2) If you don’t agree, the previous terms continue to apply; we can then terminate the contract under § 17 and refund unused pack credits pro rata.
§ 19 Final provisions
(1) German law applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. For consumers this choice of law only applies as far as it does not deprive you of the protection of mandatory provisions of the state in which you live.
(2) If you are a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law, the place of jurisdiction is our registered office.
(3) We are neither obliged nor willing to take part in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.