Paradox Interactive - User Agreement

Last update: March 1, 2023

This User Agreement (“Agreement”) governs your access and use of products, content, and services offered by Paradox Interactive AB (“Paradox”), such as games published by Paradox (“Games”) and thereto related content, mod tools, upgrades, patches, features, launchers, websites, forums, events hosted by Paradox and any other service offered by Paradox (collectively “Services”).

By using the Services, you agree to be bound by this Agreement. If you don’t agree to the terms of this Agreement, do not use the Services and instead contact your retailer regarding a possible refund (if applicable).

Below follows a summary of the Agreement. Please note that the summary is only there to help you read the Agreement while the long version actually governs your use of the Services.

Summary

  1. Using our services means you’ve accepted this agreement. Contact your retailer if you want to refund a Service.

  2. The Services are licensed to you for non-commercial use and Paradox reserves all rights to those Services.

  3. You may need a Paradox Account to get the full experience of a Service.

  4. Violating this Agreement can lead to suspension or termination of a Service!

  5. Although we try our best, we don’t always get it right the first time, so you agree that the Services may be modified.

  6. Unfortunately, stuff happens and our Services may not always be available or receive updates and actions may be taken to protect you or anyone else.

  7. UGCs are cool but remember that you’re responsible for your UGC, which you give us rights to use. The UGC shall be provided free of charge and only contain materials you are allowed to use.

  8. Please go ahead and stream our officially released Games but be aware that some music cannot be included. We hope you make it big!

  9. Follow the law and these rules, be nice, and respect our Services and the community.

  10. We may require you to install and use the Paradox Launcher to run the Services. Failure to use the Launcher may make the Services unavailable.

  11. The Agreement is in effect until terminated.

  12. The Services will have the features and functionality described in relevant product documentation and we are only liable for direct damages no greater than what you’ve paid for the Service.

  13. Let’s first try to solve disputes informally. If that doesn’t work, arbitration or the courts in Stockholm will settle it.

  14. The world changes and so will this Agreement when we post updated versions on our website and/or Service.

Long Version

1. License

The Services are licensed or otherwise made available to you, not sold. Paradox or its licensors own and reserve all rights to the Services, including all rights, title, and interest in the intellectual property rights.

If and as long as you comply with this Agreement, Paradox grants you a personal, limited, non-transferable, revocable, and non-exclusive license to use the Services, which you have duly obtained access to, for your non-commercial use (unless stated otherwise herein or specifically agreed between you and Paradox).

2. Paradox Account

Some Services may require you to have a Paradox Account. A Paradox Account can be created by signing up using a valid email address and providing accurate, truthful, and complete information.

You must be 16 years of age or older to create a Paradox Account (or the minimum age of your country of residence, if higher). If you are between the ages of 16 and the minimum age requirement of your country of residence, a parent or legal guardian must read and accept this Agreement on your behalf. You are not allowed to have multiple Paradox Accounts.

3. Changes to Services

Paradox may from time to time, patch, update, change or modify a Service (collectively “Changes”). Such Changes are for example done to improve and re-balance gameplay as well as improve the stability of the Service, or generally to improve the Services. We will inform you of such Changes within the Services, for example in the patch notes. You may be required to install or otherwise implement such Changes in order to continue to use the Services. The Changes may cause irritation (but likely satisfaction), setbacks (but likely progress), or limitations (but likely extensions or expansions) within the relevant Service and may affect gameplay.

4. Availability

Paradox does not guarantee that any Service or part of Service will be available at all times, in all locations, or at any given time or extent or that we will continue to offer a particular Service or part of Service for any particular length of time, or that a Service will continue to receive Changes.

Paradox may act in relation to your use of the Services (for example your Paradox Account) with or without notice to you, in order to protect you, other users, or Paradox, for example by restricting your access to the Services, resetting your Paradox Account password, and delete data.

5. User Generated Content

We love when our community creates user-generated content, including mods, and we encourage you to do so! We hereby grant you the right to create, enjoy and make publicly available UGC, for non-commercial purposes. However, you are the creator of and responsible for the UGC that you create, and that UGC shall not contain any material which is unlawful, infringing, inappropriate, or violates any contracts or common sense.

We are not always the owner of the intellectual property for a Game and therefore, we cannot unconditionally allow UGC to all Games. Please contact our support team at https://support.paradoxplaza.com/hc/en-us if you wonder which Games are affected.

“UGC” includes for example chat and forum posts, Game and character customizations, cinematics, scripts and programs, mods, gameplay, modes, music and sound, animations, and other types of works relating to the Services. For streaming our Games and Services, please see section 6.

Your rights in your UGC only extend to the new, original content you create as part of your UGC and do not extend to or grant any rights to the Services or anything created or made available by third parties, or any content made available by Paradox through the Services.

By making your UGC available, you grant us and our affiliates a nonexclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable, irrevocable, and perpetual right to use, develop, reproduce, modify, create derivative works from, distribute, transmit, broadcast, otherwise communicate, publicly display, publicly perform and otherwise commercialise or exploit your UGC in any manner or form and in any medium or forum, whether now known or later devised without attribution or compensation to you or any third party. This right shall survive the termination of this Agreement.

Unless otherwise agreed, the creation and publication of UGC are for strictly non-commercial purposes only. The UGC shall be provided for free and be freely available (for example, you may not place your UGC behind a paywall), but you may accept donations for your time through Patreon, or similar services, or through sponsorships.

Paradox is under no obligation to use, distribute or continue to distribute UGC and we may restrict or remove your UGC at our sole discretion.

If you encounter content created by another user that you find offensive, we encourage you to report this content by filing a ticket using our support portal. You can access the portal using the following URL: https://support.paradoxplaza.com/hc/en-us. Please provide as much detailed information in the ticket as possible, including but not limited to: what content you find offensive, the user name of the person exposing you to such content, what type of platform you were using, game version number, save game ID/SGID for the multiplayer session (if applicable) and any other form of relevant information that might help us identify the content and/or user.

6. Streaming Paradox Games

You may make videos, live streams, or artwork that contain gameplay, music, sound, and screenshots from our Services (“Paradox Game Content”) and share them on media sharing websites such as Twitch, YouTube, Bilibili, Reddit, etc. provided that your content is freely available to the public (for example you may not place your content behind a paywall). Monetization of such content is allowed only via such websites’ official affiliate, advertising, or partner programs. Other forms of monetization of Paradox Game Content are not permitted.

You may only use Paradox Game Content from Games that have been officially released to the public, or from promotional materials officially released (such as product trailers) unless you have been directed in writing by us or our partners to do so.

You must include your own creative input and commentary in Paradox Game Content. It is not permitted to make videos and images that just contain mere copies of Paradox Game Content without any of your creative input.

If you want to use the intellectual property of a third party (for example music) together with Paradox Game Content, you are responsible for obtaining any necessary third-party permissions. Please note that some Game soundtracks or songs included in our Services may not be owned by us. As this varies from Game to Game, be aware that music may trigger content flags and potential removal of the video. In addition, Game soundtracks may never be posted or distributed separately and apart from Game footage. Also, music from the following soundtracks/channels cannot be used:

  • “Europa Universalis IV: Sabaton Soundtrack”
  • “Hearts of Iron IV: Sabaton Soundtrack”
  • “Hearts of Iron IV: Sabaton Soundtrack Vol. II”
  • Cities: Skylines in-game radio channel “Gold FM”

You are not permitted to imply or state that your videos are officially affiliated with, sponsored, endorsed, or approved by us (unless you have been directed to do so).

7. Rules of Conduct

When using the Services you agree that you accept and agree to our Code of Conduct, which in short states that you may not:

  • break the law (for example commit any intellectual property infringement);
  • misuse or take any actions that can harm the Service(s) (for example disrupt or interfere with any service, server or use, develop, distribute, or sell cheats, etc);
  • take any actions that negatively affect Paradox, your fellow Paradoxians, or anyone else (for example spam the forums, share personal data, harass, troll, necropost, post any NSFW content or any Nazi propaganda or symbols, or disturb the peace); or
  • promote, encourage or take part in any prohibited activity described above.

For more detailed information, please refer to the Code of Conduct https://legal.paradoxplaza.com/rules-of-conduct?locale=en.

8. Games and Launcher

Prior to playing any Game, Paradox may require that you install and use the latest version of the Game launcher (“Paradox Launcher”). You understand that The Paradox Launcher and/or Game may download and install updates, upgrades, and additional features automatically and you agree that Paradox has no obligation to support previous versions of the Paradox Launcher or Game upon the availability of an update, upgrade, and/or implementation of additional features. Failure to install available updates may render the Game, and/or Services, unavailable/unplayable.

You may install a Game on different computers but you may only run a Game on one computer/device at a time.

9. Term and Termination

This Agreement is effective until terminated by you or Paradox. Paradox may terminate this Agreement if Paradox determines that you have failed to comply with the terms and conditions of the Agreement. Paradox will, if practical, notify you of its decision to terminate. You shall then immediately cease all use of the Service(s). The termination may result in you losing your Paradox Account name, username, achievements, forum badges, and other content associated with your Paradox Account or use of the Service.

Prior to terminating the Agreement, Paradox may issue you a warning, suspend, or alter your access to a Service, remove or delete any content which violates this Agreement, or ban your account or device from accessing certain Services. You will not be entitled to any refund if such action is taken and nothing will be credited.

You may terminate this Agreement at any point. If you terminate this Agreement, you shall immediately cease to use the Service(s).

Paradox may terminate any Service by giving thirty days notice by email or within the affected Service (pop-up or similar). A terminated Service will not receive any updates or Changes and we do not guarantee that the Service will continue to function on newer or updated operating systems or be available for download.

All sections that by their nature would survive termination shall survive termination.

10. Privacy and Use of Data

Please read our Privacy Policy to learn more about how we process your personal data in relation to the Services https://legal.paradoxplaza.com/privacy?locale=en.

11. Guarantees and Limitations of Liability

This limited guarantee is in addition to and does not affect your statutory rights which cannot be excluded or limited in any way under applicable law.

Paradox guarantees that the Services will provide the features and functions generally described in the latest relevant product documentation at the time of your purchase or use of the Service.

Paradox does not guarantee that the service or your ability to use it will be uninterrupted or error-free. To the extent permitted by applicable law, we disclaim any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no event shall Paradox, its affiliates, or licensees, be liable for any special, incidental, indirect, or consequential damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, or any other pecuniary loss) arising out of the use of or inability to use the Service or defect in or caused by the Service, including but not limited to compromising the security of your unit on which the Services run, operating system or files, or the provision of or failure to provide support services, even if Paradox has been advised of the possibility of such damages. You may recover only direct damages in an amount no greater than what you actually paid for the applicable Service if any.

12. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

You agree that this Agreement shall be deemed to have been made and executed in Sweden and any dispute arising under this Agreement shall be resolved in accordance with the laws of Sweden, excluding the law of conflicts and the Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.

Most disputes, claims, or controversies regarding this Agreement (“Disputes”) can be resolved by contacting Paradox at https://support.paradoxplaza.com/hc/en-us. Therefore, you agree to first attempt to solve any Dispute informally with Paradox for 30 days before initiating any court proceeding. Should the Dispute not be resolved by informal negotiations, you agree, to the extent permitted by applicable law, that the Dispute shall be determined exclusively by binding arbitration. The arbitration shall be administered by the Arbitration Rules of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce. The arbitral tribunal shall be composed of one arbitrator with the seat of arbitration in Stockholm, and the arbitral proceedings shall be conducted in the English language.

If arbitration is unenforceable, you agree that the Dispute shall be determined exclusively by the courts located in Stockholm, Sweden. Irrespective of the dispute resolution, you hereby waive any right to trial by jury and the right to participate in any type of class action.

13. Updates to this Agreement

We may amend this Agreement from time to time by posting an updated version on our Services. The amendments will come into effect after 30 days so make sure to review the agreement often. Your continued use of the Service after the changes come into effect means that you have accepted them.