Terms and Conditions

General Terms and Conditions of Second Stage GmbH for SaaS Services

§ 1 Definitions

The following definitions apply to these General Terms and Conditions:

1.1 “Confidential Information” means all information relating to the business operations of the disclosing Party which is not in the public domain but known only to a limited group of persons and which the disclosing Party has a legitimate interest in keeping confidential, regardless of whether it is communicated to the receiving Party in written, electronic, embodied or oral form or otherwise made available (e.g. by granting electronic access). Confidential Information includes in particular economic information such as customer lists, price and financial data, know-how, technical information such as methods, procedures and software, and all other information that is recognisably marked as confidential by the disclosing Party.

1.2 “Contractual Partner” refers to the User or, where a Subscription is held by an Organization, the Organization on whose behalf the contract with Second Stage is concluded on the basis of these GTC.

1.3 “Credits” means the internal usage units of the Platform that are consumed when certain metered features (in particular AI-powered analyses and Analyst questions) are used. Credits are made available as a monthly allowance included in a paid Subscription and may additionally be purchased as one-time top-up packs. The current allowances and consumption rates per feature are described on the Platform's pricing page.

1.4 “Entrepreneur” means a natural or legal person or a partnership with legal capacity who, when concluding a legal transaction, is acting in the exercise of their commercial or independent professional activity (Section 14 German Civil Code).

1.5 “GAMEMARKETER.GG” (also referred to as “the Platform”) means a web application operated by Second Stage that provides Users with access to AI-powered marketing intelligence tools for the video game industry. The Platform offers game performance monitoring, market research and competitor analysis, revenue and launch forecasting, genre-level market trends, campaign planning and content generation, media kit creation, and reporting, using publicly available data from sources including Steam, IGDB, and Twitch.

1.6 “GTC” means these General Terms and Conditions.

1.7 “Member” means a User who has been invited into an Organization and accesses the Platform through a Seat of that Organization's Subscription.

1.8 “Organization” means the account-level entity to which a Subscription, its Credits, its claimed games, and its Seats belong. Every registered User has an Organization; an Organization may comprise a single User or, on eligible tiers, several Members. The User who created the Organization or holds the owner role is referred to as the “Owner”.

1.9 “Party” means Second Stage or the Contractual Partner, depending on the respective context. Second Stage and the Contractual Partner are also jointly referred to as “the Parties”. A Party that discloses information to the other Party is referred to as the “disclosing Party”.

1.10 “Platform” means the GAMEMARKETER.GG web application operated by Second Stage.

1.11 “Seat” means the entitlement of one User to access an Organization's Subscription as a Member. The number of Seats included in each tier, and the conditions for purchasing additional Seats, are described on the Platform's pricing page.

1.12 “Second Stage” refers to Second Stage GmbH, Berlin, Germany.

1.13 “Subscription” means the recurring agreement under which an Organization pays for access to a specific tier of Platform features (currently Solo, Indie, or Publisher, in addition to the free tier and individually agreed Enterprise plans), as described on the pricing page on the Platform.

1.14 “Text Form” refers to the form defined in Section 126b German Civil Code. A simple e-mail fulfils the Text Form requirement.

1.15 “User” is the respective person who uses the GAMEMARKETER.GG Platform.

§ 2 Scope

2.1 These General Terms and Conditions shall apply to contracts between Second Stage GmbH (hereinafter referred to as “Second Stage”) and a User (“User”) for the use of the GAMEMARKETER.GG Platform provided by Second Stage. The Platform is intended for customers who are Entrepreneurs, legal entities under public law, or special funds under public law and who use it for business purposes.

2.2 These General Terms and Conditions shall apply exclusively. Conflicting or deviating contractual terms and conditions of the User shall not be recognised unless Second Stage has expressly agreed to their validity. This shall also apply if Second Stage performs the service to the User without reservation in the knowledge of the User's contractual terms and conditions.

2.3 Individual agreements made with a User in individual cases (including collateral agreements, supplements and amendments, and individually agreed Enterprise plans) shall take precedence over these GTC.

§ 3 Registration, User Account, Organizations and Login

3.1 Certain areas of the Platform may be used without prior registration, including browsing publicly available game metrics and designated demo content. Access to extended functionalities such as tracking games, notifications, analyses, forecasting, content generation, and media kit creation requires the User to create an account by accepting these GTC and the privacy policy. The scope of features available with a free account and with each paid tier is described on the Platform's pricing page.

3.2 Registration takes place via the Platform's web application. The User may create an account by providing an email address and password, or by authenticating via Google OAuth.

3.3 When registering with email and password, the User provides their email address and chooses a password. The password is stored in hashed form only; Second Stage does not store passwords in plaintext.

3.4 When registering via Google OAuth, the User authenticates through Google's login service. Second Stage receives the User's name, email address, and profile image from Google. Second Stage does not receive or store the User's Google password.

3.5 Access to the Platform is maintained via session cookies for a period of 7 days, after which the User must log in again.

3.6 Second Stage offers optional two-factor authentication (2FA) as an additional security measure. The User may activate 2FA via an authenticator app. If activated, the User must enter an authentication code in addition to their password when logging in. 2FA secrets are encrypted at rest.

3.7 The User is obliged to keep their login credentials confidential and to inform Second Stage immediately if there are indications that their account has been or could be accessed by unauthorised third parties.

3.8 Subscriptions, Credits, claimed games, and Seats belong to an Organization. Where an Organization comprises several Users, the Owner concludes the Subscription on behalf of the Organization and warrants that they are authorised to do so. The Owner may invite further Users as Members up to the number of Seats included in or added to the Subscription. By accepting an invitation, a Member agrees to these GTC; the Owner remains responsible for the conduct of the Organization's Members on the Platform and for all fees incurred under the Organization's Subscription.

3.9 The Platform allows Users on eligible tiers to generate personal access tokens for use with external applications (e.g. connecting the Platform's Analyst tools to third-party AI clients via the Model Context Protocol, “MCP”). Access tokens are login credentials within the meaning of § 3.7: the User must keep them confidential, is responsible for all Platform usage — including Credit consumption — performed with their tokens, and may revoke tokens at any time in the account settings. Second Stage may throttle or revoke tokens in cases of abuse or to protect the integrity of the Platform.

§ 4 Conclusion of Contract

4.1 The presentation of the services on the Platform does not in itself constitute a binding offer from Second Stage to the User, but is only intended as an invitation to submit an offer (lat. “invitiatio ad offerendum”).

4.2 By creating an account and accepting these GTC, the User concludes a contract for the use of the Platform's free features.

4.3 The User may upgrade their Organization to a paid Subscription (currently Solo, Indie, or Publisher) through the Platform. The available features, Credit allowances, Seat counts, pricing, and billing intervals are described on the Platform's pricing page. By completing the checkout process, the User accepts the terms of the selected Subscription. Enterprise plans are concluded by individual agreement.

4.4 Payment for Subscriptions and one-time purchases is processed by Stripe Payments Europe, Limited (“Stripe”). The User's payment information is collected and processed directly by Stripe; Second Stage does not store credit card numbers or bank account details.

4.5 In addition to the recurring Subscription, the User may make one-time purchases of Credit top-up packs and, on eligible tiers, additional Seats through the Platform. One-time Credit purchases do not renew automatically; additional Seats are billed together with the Subscription for as long as they are retained.

§ 5 Subject Matter of the Agreement and Services

5.1 Second Stage provides the User with access to the GAMEMARKETER.GG Platform, an AI-powered marketing intelligence tool for the video game industry. The specific features available to the User depend on their Organization's Subscription tier.

5.2 The Platform provides the following categories of services:

• Monitor — ongoing tracking of game metrics including player counts, wishlists, reviews, sales and revenue estimates, pricing, and Twitch activity, with customisable notifications via email, Slack, or Discord
• Research — game analysis, competitive intelligence, market positioning, and audience insights based on publicly available data from Steam, IGDB, and other sources
• Forecast — statistical projections of revenue, sales pacing, launch scenarios, and release timing, derived from historical data of comparable games
• Campaign — campaign planning, AI-assisted marketing copy and creative analysis, Steam store page audits, pitch deck generation, and media kit creation
• Trends — genre-level market intelligence, including lifecycle reads, leaderboards, audience profiles, and market white-space analysis
• Analyst — an AI agent that answers game-marketing questions in natural language, grounded in the Platform's data; also accessible from external AI clients via personal access tokens (§ 3.9)
• Report — consolidated periodic reporting by email and data export

5.3 The Platform uses third-party AI models from providers including Anthropic, Google, and others (which may change as the Platform evolves) to generate analysis, insights, and content. The User acknowledges that AI-generated outputs may be inaccurate, incomplete, or contain errors (“hallucinations”). Second Stage does not guarantee the accuracy or reliability of AI-generated content. The User is responsible for reviewing and verifying all AI-generated outputs before relying on them for business decisions.

5.4 The Platform analyses publicly available data from third-party sources including Steam (Valve Corporation), IGDB, and Twitch (Amazon). Second Stage does not own or control this data and cannot guarantee its accuracy, completeness, or continued availability.

5.5 Figures presented by the Platform as estimates — in particular estimated sales, estimated revenue, estimated owners, and estimated wishlists — as well as all forecasts and projections are the results of statistical models based on publicly available data, not measured values. They are provided for orientation purposes only, may deviate substantially from actual values, and do not constitute a promise, guarantee, or prediction of commercial success. The methodology underlying these estimates is described on the Platform's methodology page. Business decisions based on such estimates and forecasts are made at the User's own risk.

5.6 The Platform offers optional integrations with third-party services, currently Slack and Discord, through which Users can receive notifications and retrieve game metrics in their own workspaces. Use of these integrations is additionally subject to the terms of the respective third-party service. Data transmitted to such services (e.g. notification content and game metrics) leaves the Platform's sphere of control. Integration credentials are stored in encrypted form and are deleted when the User disconnects the integration.

5.7 During the term of the contract, the User shall have the non-exclusive right to use the Platform in accordance with their Organization's Subscription tier.

5.8 The User's access to the internet is not part of Second Stage's services. The User shall bear sole responsibility for the functionality of their internet connection and suitable end devices.

5.9 Second Stage is entitled to make changes to the scope of functions as part of the further development of the Platform, provided that these changes do not result in any significant disadvantages for the User. A renewed familiarisation of the User with changed structures or user guidance does not constitute unreasonableness.

5.10 Second Stage is authorised to employ vicarious agents (“Erfüllungsgehilfen”) for the provision of services.

§ 6 Media Kits

6.1 The Platform allows Users to create and publish media kits (press kits) for video games. Published media kits are accessible via public URLs on the Platform's domain.

6.2 The User is solely responsible for the content of their media kits, including text, images, and any other materials. The User warrants that they have the right to publish all content included in their media kits and that such content does not infringe any third-party rights.

6.3 Second Stage reserves the right to remove or disable access to media kits that violate these GTC, applicable law, or the rights of third parties.

§ 7 Availability of the Platform and Customer Service

7.1 For the free tier, Second Stage does not warrant any specific availability level. Temporary access restrictions or interruptions (e.g. due to maintenance, updates, or technical issues) may occur at any time without prior notice.

7.2 For paid Subscriptions, Second Stage shall use commercially reasonable efforts to maintain Platform availability. No service levels (SLA) or minimum availability obligations shall apply unless explicitly agreed in writing.

7.3 Second Stage shall in no case be liable for disruptions to availability caused by the User, their telecommunications provider, or by third parties otherwise attributable to the sphere of the User.

7.4 Second Stage offers customer support from Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays in Berlin, from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (CET). Second Stage will respond to support requests by email within 48 hours during business days.

§ 8 Subscription Terms, Credits, Cancellation, and Account Deletion

8.1 The Platform offers a free tier and the paid Subscription tiers Solo, Indie, and Publisher; Enterprise plans are agreed individually. The features, Credit allowances, numbers of claimable games, and Seat counts included in each tier and their pricing are described on the Platform's pricing page and may be updated from time to time.

8.2 A Subscription is held by the Organization. All Members of the Organization share the Subscription's features, its monthly Credit allowance, and its claimed games in accordance with their Seats and roles.

8.3 Paid Subscriptions are billed on a recurring basis (monthly or annually, as selected by the User) through Stripe. The first billing period begins on the date of Subscription purchase. Paid Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each billing period unless cancelled by the User before the renewal date.

8.4 The User may upgrade or downgrade the Organization's Subscription at any time through the Platform. Upgrades take effect immediately with prorated billing. Downgrades take effect at the end of the current billing period. If, after a downgrade, the Organization exceeds the limits of the new tier (e.g. number of Members or claimed games), the excess Members and claimed games are deactivated (“locked”) until the Organization again falls within the limits of its tier or upgrades; locked data is retained and is not deleted by the downgrade.

8.5 Paid Subscriptions include a monthly allowance of Credits as described on the pricing page. Credits are consumed by metered features at the rates published on the pricing page. Unused monthly Credits expire at the end of each billing period and do not roll over. Credits have no cash value, are not redeemable for money, are non-transferable outside the Organization, and are non-refundable. If a metered action fails for technical reasons, the corresponding Credits are re-credited.

8.6 Credit top-up packs may be purchased as one-time purchases. Top-up Credits are consumed after the monthly allowance is exhausted and remain available until used for as long as the account exists. Top-up Credits equally have no cash value and are non-refundable.

8.7 If a payment underlying a Subscription, Seat, or Credit purchase is refunded, reversed, or subject to a chargeback, Second Stage is entitled to revoke the Credits and entitlements granted for that payment.

8.8 The User may cancel their paid Subscription at any time through the Platform. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period. The Organization retains access to paid features until the end of the period. No refunds are provided for partial billing periods.

8.9 The User may delete their account at any time through the account settings. For accounts without an active paid Subscription, deletion is immediate. For accounts holding an active paid Subscription, the account is scheduled for deletion at the end of the current billing period, during which the Subscription is also cancelled. If the deleting User is the Owner of an Organization with further Members, the deletion of the Owner's account ends the Organization's Subscription in the same manner, and Members lose access to the Organization's paid features at the same time. A Member's own account deletion does not affect the Organization's Subscription. Upon deletion, all User data is permanently removed in accordance with the privacy policy.

8.10 Second Stage reserves the right to block, suspend, or delete User accounts in case of misuse, breach of contract, or technical abuse of the Platform, particularly if such behaviour affects the integrity, security, or availability of the Platform.

8.11 All prices are subject to the applicable statutory value added tax (“Umsatzsteuer”).

§ 9 Confidentiality and Data Protection

9.1 Second Stage and the Contractual Partner are obliged to treat all knowledge of confidential information of the other Party obtained within the framework of the contractual relationship as confidential for an unlimited period of time, including after termination of the cooperation, and to use it only for the purposes of implementing the respective contract.

9.2 The confidentiality obligation shall not apply to information that (i) was already in the public domain at the time of disclosure or becomes publicly known thereafter without breach of confidentiality obligations, (ii) is expressly disclosed by one Party on a non-confidential basis, (iii) was already in the lawful possession of the other Party prior to disclosure, (iv) is subsequently disclosed to the receiving Party by a third Party without breach of a confidentiality obligation or is independently developed by the receiving Party, (v) is required to be disclosed by law, or (vi) is presented as evidence to a court or public authority for the assertion of or defence against legal claims.

9.3 The Parties undertake to comply with the relevant data protection regulations, in particular the GDPR (“DSGVO”), within the scope of the cooperation. The Second Stage privacy policy, available at the privacy policy page on the Platform, shall apply.

§ 10 Intellectual Property and AI-Generated Content

10.1 All intellectual property rights in the Platform, including its software, design, and documentation, remain with Second Stage.

10.2 Content generated by the Platform's AI features (including marketing copy, analysis, insights, and recommendations) is provided to the User for their use. Second Stage claims no ownership of such content and imposes no restrictions of its own on its commercial use. This is not a warranty that the content is free of third-party rights, or that its use is unrestricted by law; §§ 10.3 and 10.5 apply.

10.3 Second Stage makes no representations regarding the intellectual property status of AI-generated content. The User is responsible for ensuring that their use of AI-generated content does not infringe any third-party rights.

10.4 The User retains all rights to content they upload to the Platform, including media kit materials. By uploading content, the User grants Second Stage a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, display, and distribute such content as necessary to provide the Platform's services (e.g. publishing media kits at public URLs).

10.5 Transparency and disclosure. Where the User publishes or distributes AI-generated content, the User decides whether and how to disclose that it is AI-generated, and is responsible for complying with any applicable transparency, labelling or platform-specific disclosure obligations (for example under Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 or a storefront's or ad network's own rules). Artefacts the Platform exports — pitch decks, published media kits and report emails — carry a machine-readable mark identifying the content as AI-generated; the User shall not remove or obscure that mark. Review and editorial control over generated content rests with the User (§ 5.3).

§ 11 Warranty

11.1 For services provided free of charge, Second Stage assumes no warranty for the accuracy, completeness, availability, or suitability of the information and data displayed, nor for the uninterrupted or error-free functioning of the Platform. The service is provided “as is”. Second Stage reserves the right to modify, restrict, or discontinue the Platform at any time without prior notice.

11.2 For paid Subscriptions, Second Stage shall be obliged to rectify defects in the Platform during the Subscription term. A defect shall also be deemed to have been remedied if Second Stage shows the User a reasonable way of avoiding the effects of the defect.

11.3 The User's right to terminate the contract for failure to grant use in accordance with Section 543 (2) sentence 1 no. 1 German Civil Code is excluded unless the establishment of contractual use is deemed to have failed. Failure shall be assumed at the earliest if Second Stage does not remedy a material defect within a period of four (4) weeks from receipt of the notice of defect or provides a corresponding workaround.

§ 12 Liability

12.1 Liability for services provided free of charge

To the extent that Second Stage provides services free of charge, it shall be liable in accordance with the statutory provisions governing loan agreements under German law (Sections 598 ff. BGB) for damages caused by intentional or grossly negligent conduct by Second Stage or its vicarious agents, or in the case of fraudulent concealment of defects, personal injury, or claims under product liability law.

This limitation of liability also applies insofar as third-party AI tools are used in the provision of services. The User acknowledges that the use of such tools may lead to inaccurate information or errors over which Second Stage has no control. Second Stage assumes no guarantee for the accuracy or reliability of AI-generated data.

12.2 Liability for paid services

In the case of paid Subscriptions, Second Stage shall be liable in accordance with the statutory provisions for damages caused by intentional or grossly negligent behaviour on the part of Second Stage or its vicarious agents. The same shall apply to personal injury and damage under the Product Liability Act.

12.3 Furthermore, Second Stage's liability for claims for damages — regardless of the legal grounds — shall be limited in accordance with the following provisions: Second Stage shall only be liable for damages caused by slight or simple negligence insofar as they are based on the breach of essential contractual obligations (“Kardinalspflichten”). Insofar as Second Stage is liable for simple negligence, its liability shall be limited to the typically foreseeable damage. Any further liability of Second Stage for slight or simple negligence is excluded.

12.4 The provisions of the above paragraphs shall also apply to a limitation of Second Stage's obligation to pay compensation for futile expenses (Section 284 German Civil Code).

12.5 Second Stage's strict liability as lessor for defects existing at the time of conclusion of the contract pursuant to Section 536a (1), 1st Alt. German Civil Code is excluded.

12.6 The above limitations of liability shall also apply in favour of Second Stage's vicarious agents.

§ 13 User Responsibilities

13.1 The User is responsible for all content they create, upload, or publish through the Platform, including media kit content, marketing copy based on AI suggestions, and any materials shared with third parties.

13.2 The User shall not use the Platform to publish or distribute content that is unlawful, defamatory, or infringes the rights of third parties.

13.3 The User shall not attempt to circumvent Subscription tier limits, Seat limits, or Credit metering (e.g. by creating multiple accounts or sharing access tokens), abuse API or token access, or use automated tools to extract data from the Platform beyond its intended use.

13.4 Exports provided by the Platform (e.g. CSV files, presentation decks, media kits, and reports) may be used for the User's own business purposes, including sharing with the User's clients and stakeholders. The User shall not, however, systematically redistribute, resell, or make publicly available the Platform's data, estimates, or analyses as a standalone data product or service that substitutes for the Platform.

§ 14 Governing Law and Place of Performance

14.1 The contractual relationship between the User and Second Stage shall be governed by German law to the exclusion of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and the provisions of international private law.

14.2 If the User is a registered trader, a legal entity under public law, or a special fund under public law, or has no general place of performance in Germany, Berlin (Germany) is agreed as the place of performance for all disputes arising from or in connection with the contract.

§ 15 Miscellaneous

15.1 Agreements between Second Stage and the User and all amendments and additions to the contract must be made in writing, whereby an exchange of documents by email is sufficient. The aforementioned formal requirements shall also apply to the amendment or cancellation of provisions of this clause.

15.2 All declarations by the contracting parties (e.g. cancellations, notices of defects, etc.) must be made in Text Form (“Textform”) to be effective.

15.3 The User may only assign rights and claims arising from a contractual relationship with Second Stage to third parties with the prior written consent of Second Stage.

15.4 Should individual provisions of these GTC be or become invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions shall not be affected.

§ 16 Amendment of the GTC

16.1 Second Stage shall be entitled to amend these GTC in accordance with the following provisions. The right to amend the GTC shall only apply insofar as this does not result in a change to Second Stage's main performance obligations that is detrimental to the User.

16.2 The User shall be notified of amendments to these GTC in Text Form or via the Platform.

16.3 The User may object to such an amendment to the GTC. To do so, they must declare their objection to Second Stage in Text Form within six (6) weeks of receipt of the notification. If the User does not object in due form and time, the amendments shall be deemed approved and the amended GTC shall become part of the contract. Second Stage shall expressly refer to this and to the form and deadline for the objection in the notification.

16.4 If the User objects to the changes in due form and time, the contract shall continue unchanged. In this case, however, Second Stage shall have the right to terminate the contract with a notice period of four (4) weeks from receipt of the objection, provided that it is economically or technically impossible or unreasonable for Second Stage to adhere to the unchanged contract.