Privacy Policy

INTRODUCTION

Ascendant Studios, LLC (“Ascendant”, “we” or “us”) develops video games and occasionally engages in marketing campaigns that are promoted to customers (“Campaign Users”).

Security & Privacy is an important part of our platform that we take very seriously. Therefore, this Privacy Policy governs the manner in which Ascendant collects, uses, maintains and discloses information collected from users (each, a “User”) of the https://ascendantstudios.com website (“Site”) and Ascendant’s sweepstakes partner websites, such as Gleam.io. This privacy policy applies to the Site and all information received in connection with Ascendant’s sweepstakes.

In order to ensure confidentiality and lawful processing of its Users personal data, Ascendant in its capacity of a data controller and of a processor, conducts its activities in strict compliance with the requirements set in the Australia Privacy Act 1988, Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of this data (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

This Privacy Policy applies to all Users and Visitors of our Site, Services, and Ascendant sweepstakes participants.

What Information we collect and How We Use It

We may collect the following types of information about you on our Website

Customers and Visitors of our Site

We may collect your personal data in a variety of ways, including, but not limited to, when you visit our Site, register on the Site, subscribe to our newsletter, fill out a form, or in connection with other activities, services, features or resources we make available.

Registration and Contact Information: As appropriate and depending on the Services you would like to use, Users and Visitors may be asked to provide us with full name, username, email, address, credit card, phone number or billing information.

Payment Information: When you purchase the Services, we will also collect transaction information, which may include your credit card information, billing and mailing address, and other payment-related information.

Technical, Usage and Location Information: We automatically collect information on how you interact with the Site, such as the IP address from which you access the Site, date and time, information about your browser, operating system and computer or device, pages viewed and items clicked. We may also collect location information, including location information automatically provided by your computer or device. We use cookies and similar technologies to collect some of this information and persist your login to our Site.

Third Party Platforms. We may collect information when you interact with our advertisements and other content on third-party sites or platforms, such as social networking sites. This may include information such as Facebook Likes, profile information gathered from social networking sites during signup or the fact that you viewed or interacted with our content.

Other Information. We may collect other information from you that is not specifically listed here. We may use any such information in accordance with this Privacy Policy or as otherwise permitted by you.

Ascendant Sweepstakes Participants

If you submitted information to our 3rd party sweepstakes provider, under the terms of a sweepstakes, some or all of your information may be provided to Ascendant, which is processed in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Ascendant does not own or use any identifiable data provided by sweepstakes participants other than to:

Select sweepstakes winners and make the legally required winner lists publicly available
Ensure that your specific entry is assigned to the correct sweepstakes that you provided consent for
Analyze anonymized statistics or usage to help improve future sweepstakes

How We Use Collected Information

Ascendant may collect and use User’s personal information for the following purposes:

Ascendant Website Users

To administer our Website and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes;
To write or display content such as case studies or customer testimonials on our Site;
To improve the Site to ensure that content is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your Device;
To allow you to participate in interactive features of our service, when you choose to do so;
To send periodic emails: We may use the email address to send User information and updates pertaining to their subscription. It may also be used to respond to their inquiries, questions, and/or other requests.

Sharing Information With Third Parties

We do not access, sell, trade, or rent Users personal identification information to others

Customers and Visitors of our Site

Ascendant may use third party service providers to help us operate our business or administer activities on our behalf, such as sending out newsletters or collecting Website analytics. We may share your information with these third parties for those limited purposes provided that you have given us your permission.

Ascendant engages certain onward subprocessors that may process personal data collected by or shared with Ascendant. These subprocessors are listed below, and may be updated by Ascendant from time to time:

Amazon Web Services –  Privacy Shield Certified
Bugsnag –  Privacy Shield Certified
Frontapp –  Privacy Shield Certified
Google Analytics –  Privacy Shield Certified
Intercom –  Privacy Shield Certified
Mailgun –  Privacy Shield Certified
Stripe –  Privacy Shield Certified

Third Party Websites

Users may find advertising or other content on our Site that link to the sites and services of our partners, suppliers, advertisers, sponsors, licensors and other third parties. We do not control the content or links that appear on these sites and are not responsible for the practices employed by websites linked to or from our Site. In addition, these sites or services, including their content and links, may be constantly changing. These sites and services may have their own privacy policies and customer service policies. Browsing and interaction on any other website, including websites which have a link to our Site, is subject to that website’s own terms and policies.

Legal Disclosures

In certain limited circumstances, we may also have to disclose your personal data to public authorities and other third parties, if the disclosure is in response to lawful requests made by such public authorities, including to conform with national security or law enforcement requirements. Your personal information may also be disclosed to other third parties when compelled to do so by government authorities or required by law or regulation including, but not limited to, in response to court orders and subpoenas.

Ascendant may also share personal data with third parties to prevent, investigate or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of our Terms of Service or any other agreement related to the Services, or as otherwise required by law.

Information Security

We use appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect any personal information we process about visitors to our Website against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. However, please note that no Internet transmission can ever be guaranteed 100% secure, and so we encourage you to take care when disclosing personal information online and to use readily available tools, such as Internet firewalls, secure e-mail and similar technologies to protect yourself online.

Sensitive and private data exchange between the Site and its Users happens over an SSL secured communication channel and is encrypted and protected with digital signatures. All user data is encrypted at rest using industry standard AES-256 encryption.

In case of an unauthorized security intrusion that materially affects you, Ascendant will notify you as soon as possible and will within reasonable time report the action we took in response.

Reporting Security Issues

Ascendant runs a bug bounty program via HackerOne with cash bounties. If you have found a bug and would like to report it ethically, please email security@ascendantstudios.com for an invite.

EU and EEA residents

The servers where Ascendant stores all personal data are located in the US. If you are located in a country member of either the EU or the EEA, please be aware that any information provided to us, including personal information, will be transferred from your country of origin to the US. Except in the case of data transfers under the EU-US Privacy Shield and the Swiss-US Privacy Shield, we may ask for your express consent to provide such data to us or allow us to collect such data.

International Transfer of Personal Data

All personal data we process is stored directly, without any subsequent transfers, on US-based servers, which we loan from a third-party datacenter that is certified and adheres to the EU – U.S Privacy Shield Framework.

To additionally guarantee to our Customers and their European Campaign users (data subjects) the legality of our processing services and the international transfers of the personal data, Ascendant has undertaken GDPR compliant contractual commitments, binding us, as a data processor, to protect the data privacy and to ensure the most adequate level of data security.

Please note that the country where we operate may have privacy and data protection laws that differ from, and are potentially less protective than, the laws of your country. You agree to this risk when you create an account with Us and click “I accept Ascendant’s Terms of Service & Privacy Policy” to data transfers, irrespective of which country you live in. If you later wish to withdraw your consent, you can delete your Ascendant account as described in the “Your Rights” section.

Data Retention Periods

Ascendant will not retain data longer than is necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected or as required by applicable laws or regulations.

Privacy Controls & Choices

Your Rights: We provide all Customers, Visitors and Users of our Site with the opportunity to request access, correction, restriction, deletion, data portability or oppose to any personal information that has previously been provided to us in connection with the use of our Website, as required by law. You can send us an email to privacy@ascendantstudios.com. We may request specific information from you to confirm your identity.

Ascendant’s Data Protection Officer

Ascendant has a Data Protection Officer who is responsible for matters relating to privacy and data protection. This Data Protection Officer can be reached at the following address:

Ascendant Studios
Attn: Data Protection Officer
1248 5th Ave
San Rafael, CA 94901, USA
privacy@ascendantstudios.com

California Consumer Privacy Act

For our users or customers living or doing business in California, Ascendant is subject to the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”).

Ascendant Does Not Sell Your Personal Information. You can read more about this in our Sharing Information With Third Parties section.
Cookie Policy. You can learn about this in our Cookies section.
Accuracy and Access To Your Personal Information. If you believe that Personal Information Ascendant holds about you is inaccurate, you may modify or correct your Personal Information by contacting us at: privacy@ascendantstudios.com. We may request specific information from you to confirm your identity.
Deleting Your Personal Information. You can learn about this in our Privacy Controls & Choices section above.

Compliance With Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act

Ascendant does not knowingly acquire or receive personal data from children under 13. We do not intentionally process any information, including Personal Data, from children or other individuals who are not legally able to use our Site and Services. If we later learn that any user of our Service is under the age of 13 and that we have obtained his/her Personal Data, we will promptly delete it from our database and will take further steps to restrict that individual from future access to our Services, unless we are legally obligated to retain such data.

If you are a parent or legal guardian of a child under 13 and believe that we might have any information from or about such child, please contact us at the email or mailing address provided at the end of this Privacy Policy.

Business Transfers

In some cases, we may choose to buy or sell assets. In these types of transactions, customer information is typically one of the business assets that are transferred. Moreover, if Ascendant, or substantially all of its assets were to be acquired, or in the unlikely event that Ascendant goes out of business or enters bankruptcy, customer information would be one of the assets that is transferred or acquired by a third party. You acknowledge that such transfers may occur, and that any acquisition of Ascendant or its assets may continue to use your Personal Information as set forth in this policy.

Changes To This Privacy Policy

Ascendant has the discretion to update this privacy policy at any time. When we do, we will revise the updated date at the bottom of this page. We encourage Users to frequently check this page for any changes to stay informed about how we are helping to protect the personal information we collect. You acknowledge and agree that it is your responsibility to review this privacy policy periodically and become aware of modifications.

Your Acceptance Of These Terms

By using this Site, you signify your acceptance of this policy and terms of service. If you do not agree to this policy, please do not use our Site. Your continued use of the Site following the posting of changes to this policy will be deemed your acceptance of those changes.

Contacting Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this site, please contact us at privacy@ascendantstudios.com

This document was last updated on November 7, 2023

The Call to Create a New IP

After 26 years in the games industry, Bret Robbins (Founder & CEO at Ascendant Studios) felt it was time to begin something new. He had spent his career working on world-famous franchises like Lord of the Rings, 007 James Bond, and directing multiple Call of Duty campaigns, but there was something about his experience creating an original IP from scratch, like Dead Space, that kept calling to him.

Read the full story

Dreaming up a new game and the studio to create it

"I remember working on one of the Call of Duty levels and thinking, what if instead of a helicopter, that was a dragon. And instead of RPG explosions, those were fireballs. And instead of soldiers, we were all battle mages, firing off spells and wrecking the place.

And I stopped and thought ‘Where is that game? I want to play that game!'"

Investing in the Vision

"I had an opportunity to just sit and write for about four months. I would park myself at a small cafe and work on the game design document and the story outline. It was a time of allowing myself to think that anything was possible and I could design whatever I wanted. Since then, a lot of the ideas have changed and gotten better, but the heart of what I wrote back then is still the vision for the game today."

When a surprising opportunity strikes

"We had been going for about a month when we heard that Telltale Games was shutting down and that the entire staff had just been laid off. Someone heard that they were commiserating over at a nearby bar, so we drove over and started meeting with people.

I hired about a half dozen people that day, including my Art Director."

Building a sustainable culture

"One thing I learned over years of working at different studios is that the culture starts at the top. I don't want people to crunch and burnout, because I personally don't want to do that either. I want people to feel that they are being treated fairly and honestly. I put a high premium on being open and transparent with the team, and I think that's surprisingly rare in our industry."

A partnership to launch Immortals of Aveum

"Just when we were getting into full game production, we started to attract attention from publishers. It was a very validating moment. We chose to partner with EA because we knew they could reach the biggest audience, and their Originals label had a great track. We also kept creative control and ownership of the game, which was key for us."