Effective date / last updated: October 31, 2026
This Privacy Policy explains how Ficking Games, LLC (“Ficking Games,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), based in Michigan, United States, handles personal information in connection with Aether Lock, its playtests, multiplayer features, and game-related support.
Aether Lock is in development. Features vary by build. Steam online features are part of the current integration; Epic Online Services (EOS) and cross-store features are being developed. The descriptions below apply when the relevant feature is enabled and used. Publishing this policy does not mean every described online feature is available in every build.
Browsing or shopping on FickingGames.com is covered separately by our website Privacy Policy. This page specifically addresses Aether Lock and its game-related services.
Information we handle
- Player and platform identifiers: in-game profile and run identifiers; Steam IDs and display names; and, when the relevant Epic integration is enabled, Epic account identifiers, EOS Product User IDs, and linked-platform identifiers. Authentication tickets or tokens may be used to establish and maintain an online login.
- Social information: profile images, relevant friend-list information, online presence, invitations, and party membership made available through enabled platform features and permissions. We use this information to display social features and help you connect with other players.
- Gameplay and save information: character selection, inventory and equipment, settings, progression, achievements, run results, and related gameplay state needed to save progress or synchronize multiplayer.
- Connection and technical information: IP addresses and other connection information, lobby or session identifiers, game-version information, and technical error information needed to establish, operate, or troubleshoot multiplayer. Game logs can contain identifiers and connection details.
- Information you send us: your email address, platform or player identifier, messages, and any screenshots, logs, or other attachments you provide when requesting support, reporting a problem, or exercising privacy rights.
We do not ask you to send us your Steam or Epic account password. Do not include passwords, authentication tickets, payment details, or unrelated personal information in support messages or diagnostic files.
Why we use this information
We use game-related information to:
- Identify the appropriate player and profile, authenticate online access, and maintain sessions.
- Create, discover, join, and manage multiplayer lobbies, parties, invitations, and connections.
- Synchronize cooperative gameplay and preserve character, inventory, progression, and run state.
- Provide supported achievements, friends, and presence features.
- Respond to support and privacy requests, investigate errors or misuse, and protect the game and its players.
- Meet legal obligations and establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.
Where applicable law requires a legal basis, we rely on performance of our agreement with you to provide requested game features; legitimate interests in operating, supporting, and securing the game, subject to your rights; compliance with legal obligations; and consent where required for optional processing. Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw that consent. This does not affect processing that was lawful before withdrawal.
Steam and Epic Online Services
When you use enabled Steam or EOS features, our game exchanges the identifiers, authentication information, social information, and relevant connection or gameplay data needed for those features with the applicable service. The information involved depends on your build, platform, permissions, and the features you choose to use.
Optional friends and presence features may require additional permissions. Declining an optional permission can limit the associated feature. Online multiplayer requires the authentication and connection information necessary to establish the session.
Valve and Epic have their own privacy relationships with their users. For information about their respective practices and account controls, consult their policies directly:
This policy describes our handling of information; it does not describe or make promises about Valve’s or Epic’s collection, use, or retention practices.
Multiplayer, local saves, and player-hosted games
The current save architecture stores profile, progression, and game-save information on local devices. In player-hosted multiplayer, a host’s computer may also receive and retain participating players’ gameplay and profile information needed for multiplayer persistence and run recovery.
Other players can see information needed to participate together, such as display names, selected characters, party membership, and shared gameplay activity. Avoid using a display name that reveals information you do not want other players to see. Depending on the networking method, participating hosts or peers may receive connection information, including IP addresses.
Enabling cross-store multiplayer does not by itself provide cloud saves or cross-device progression. We cannot directly erase files held only on your device or independently operated player-host devices. Contact us for assistance with data we control or with identifying local-save deletion options.
Steam Cloud (when enabled)
Steam Cloud support is planned. In builds that support it, and when cloud synchronization is enabled, selected Aether Lock save files can be uploaded through Steam Cloud and downloaded to supported devices to restore or synchronize progress. This does not mean Steam Cloud is enabled in every build or that saves are shared with the Epic Games Store version.
Cloud-synchronized files may contain in-game profile identifiers, character and inventory data, progression, settings, run results, and multiplayer persistence or recovery records contained in the selected save files. Synchronization creates additional copies beyond the local and player-hosted copies described above.
You can manage synchronization through Aether Lock’s Steam Properties or Steam’s Cloud settings. Turning synchronization off does not by itself request deletion of previously uploaded files, and deleting only a local copy does not necessarily remove every synchronized copy. For platform-controlled records and applicable privacy requests, consult the Valve / Steam Privacy Policy and the contact or privacy controls it describes.
For help with Aether Lock save information held by Ficking Games, including access or deletion requests, contact will@fickinggames.com. The retention and request-handling provisions elsewhere in this policy continue to apply to information we control.
When we disclose information
We disclose relevant information:
- Through Steam and EOS integrations to provide the enabled platform and multiplayer features described above.
- To participating players and player-hosted game instances as needed to operate multiplayer.
- To service providers we use to handle game support and communications, to the extent needed for that work and subject to appropriate restrictions.
- When required by law, or when reasonably necessary to address fraud, misuse, security incidents, or threats to rights or safety, consistent with applicable law.
We do not sell Aether Lock players’ personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. Aether Lock does not currently include advertising or a separate third-party gameplay analytics service. These statements concern the game; website cookies, shopping, and any separately chosen newsletter subscription are addressed through the website’s applicable notices.
Retention and deletion
Retention depends on the type of information and where it is held:
- Local and player-host saves: remain on the relevant device until its user deletes or replaces them, or the game removes them through its normal save-management behavior. There is no general automatic expiry period for retained local saves.
- Local diagnostic logs: remain on the relevant device until removed or replaced through normal application behavior or by its user.
- Active online information: we use temporary authentication, presence, invitation, and session information for the relevant online feature. This does not set a retention period for records held independently by a platform provider or another host.
- Support records and diagnostic files you send us: we retain them only for as long as reasonably needed to resolve the request, investigate the reported problem, handle related follow-up, and meet applicable legal or security requirements. We assess continued need based on the nature and status of the issue.
- Legal or security records: we may retain limited information where necessary to comply with law, document compliance, resolve disputes, or investigate misuse. If a deletion exception applies, we explain it where required by law.
A request to delete information held by Ficking Games does not delete your Steam or Epic account, independently held platform records, or every copy of a local save. Use the relevant platform’s account controls for platform-account requests.
Your choices and privacy requests
You can manage supported social permissions and visibility through the applicable account or platform controls. You may also contact us about local-save management, information you have provided to us, or information held by Ficking Games.
Depending on your location and applicable law, you may have rights to access or obtain a copy of personal information, correct it, request deletion, restrict or object to certain processing, receive portable data, withdraw consent, or complain to a relevant data protection authority. Where an appeal right applies, you may ask us to review our response. We do not discriminate against you for exercising applicable privacy rights.
Send requests to will@fickinggames.com with the subject Aether Lock Privacy Request. Tell us what you are requesting and provide enough information to identify the relevant player, profile, or support interaction. We may ask for proportionate information to verify your identity or authority. Do not send account passwords or authentication tokens. We respond within the periods required by applicable law and explain limitations or exceptions when required.
Deleting data needed for a feature may prevent us from providing that feature or restoring affected progress.
Security and international processing
We use reasonable technical and organizational measures appropriate to the information we handle. No storage or transmission method can guarantee complete security. Player-hosted devices are independently controlled, so use care when choosing whom to play with and when sharing diagnostic files.
Ficking Games is based in the United States. Information we handle for support and online services may be processed in the United States or other countries where our service providers operate. Where applicable law requires safeguards for international transfers, we use the safeguards required for the transfer. You may contact us for relevant information about safeguards applicable to data we control.
Children
Aether Lock is intended for players age 13 and older and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has provided personal information to us, contact will@fickinggames.com so we can investigate and take appropriate action, including deletion where required. Additional age or parental-permission requirements may apply under local law or the platform’s rules.
Changes to this policy
We update this policy when the game’s data practices or legal requirements change and revise the date above. For material changes, we provide additional notice or obtain consent where required by law. New features that change our handling of personal information will be reflected in this policy as appropriate.
Contact
Ficking Games, LLC
Michigan, United States
Email: will@fickinggames.com
Game website: Aether Lock