Blizzard Developer API Terms of Use

Last updated October 1, 2019

 

These API Terms of Use constitute a binding agreement between Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (“Blizzard”) and You. BY CLICKING “I ACCEPT”, YOU EXPRESSLY ACKNOWLEDGE AND REPRESENT THAT (1) YOU HAVE READ AND AGREE TO THESE API TERMS OF USE AND (2) YOU ARE OF LEGAL AGE TO FORM A BINDING CONTRACT. IF YOU ARE AN INDIVIDUAL ACCESSING THIS SITE OR THE APIS ON BEHALF OF AN ENTITY, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO ACCEPT THESE API TERMS OF USE ON BEHALF OF SUCH ENTITY. IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT THESE API TERMS OF USE, YOU MAY NOT ACCESS OR USE THE BLIZZARD DEVELOPER APIS, THE DATA, OR THE DEVELOPER SITE. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE SECTION BELOW TITLED “CHOICE OF LAW; DISPUTES” CONTAINS A BINDING ARBITRATION AGREEMENT AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER. THEY AFFECT YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS. PLEASE READ THEM.

1. Blizzard Developer APIs. The “Blizzard Developer APIs” are a group of application programming interfaces created by or on behalf of Blizzard which allow licensees to, among other things, retrieve certain data regarding Blizzard’s customers, Blizzard, and/or certain of Blizzard’s games and services (“Data”) with the use of one or more OAuth clients (“API Key”) provided to You by Blizzard. Blizzard makes the Blizzard Developer APIs available to qualified licensees subject to the following obligations, terms, and conditions, including Blizzard’s right to limit, change, suspend, or terminate any or all of the Blizzard Developer APIs entirely or Your access to them and/or to the website located at community.developer.battle.net (“Developer Site”) at any time and without notice.

2. API And Data License. Subject to Your compliance with these API Terms of Use, Blizzard grants You a limited, non-exclusive, non-assignable, non-sublicensable, non-transferable, revocable right and license for You to (1) use the API Key solely to access the Blizzard Developer APIs, (2) implement the Blizzard Developer APIs, solely as permitted hereunder, in conjunction with Your client libraries, desktop applications, services and daemons such as websites and web services, scripts and applications and/or utilities that You register when You request an API Key (“Application(s)”), and (3) distribute the Data to end users for their personal use via Your Application. You may not use the API Key or the Data for any Applications that have not been registered with Blizzard or for any purpose not expressly authorized hereunder. Also, although this license is free for You to use at this time, Blizzard reserves the right to charge a fee for use in the future. This license is subject to the following restrictions:

   1. Registration And Account Information. To access the Blizzard Developer APIs, you will first need to create (1) a Blizzard Battle.net account, and (2) register on the Developer Site in order to obtain an API Key. You agree to:

      1. provide accurate, current, and complete information about You as may be prompted during account creation (the “Registration Data”);

      2. maintain the security of your password and identification; and

      3. maintain and promptly update the Registration Data, and any other information you provide to Blizzard, and keep all such information accurate, current, and complete.

   2. Applications May Not Charge Premiums To Use The APIs. “Premium” versions of Applications offering additional for-pay features are not permitted, nor can players be charged money to download an Application, charged for services related to the Application, or otherwise be required to offer some form of monetary compensation to download or access an Application when those features use the Blizzard Developer APIs. Likewise, Applications may not include interstitials soliciting donations before features or functionality becomes available to the player. Also, players may not be required to watch a video advertisement before accessing a feature or function of the application.

   3. Applications May Not Contain Offensive Material. Applications may not be associated with nor contain any content that is unlawful, tortious, defamatory, obscene, invasive of the privacy of another person, threatening, harassing, abusive, hateful, racist or otherwise objectionable or inappropriate, as determined by Blizzard in Blizzard's sole discretion. Applications should only contain content appropriate for the ESRB rating for the related game(s). For example, World of Warcraft® has been rated “T for Teen” by the ESRB, and has received similar ratings from other ratings boards around the world and any Application using or displaying Data related to World of Warcraft shall be suitable for a “T for Teen” audience.

   4. Applications Must Not Negatively Impact Blizzard, Blizzard’s Games, Services, or Customers. Applications must perform no function which, in Blizzard’s sole discretion, negatively impacts Blizzard, the performance of Blizzard’s games or services, or otherwise negatively affects Blizzard’s players and/or customers, compromises the integrity of any Blizzard game or services, or creates an unfair advantage for players.

   5. Applications must benefit the Blizzard player community. Blizzard and You agree that you are a Service Provider pursuant to the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”). Your use of the Data is restricted to developing Applications that benefit the Blizzard player community and You agree not to distribute Data outside of your authorized Applications and not do anything that would change your status under the CCPA from being a Service Provider to being a Purchaser of the Blizzard Data.

   6. Applications May Not Target Users Under 13 Years Of Age. Applications should not be designed for nor marketed to users under the age of 13 years of age.

   7. You Are Responsible For Your Application. You are fully responsible and liable for all activities that occur using Your API Key and/or Your Application, regardless of whether such activities are undertaken by You or a third party.

   8. You May Not Use The Blizzard Developer APIs Or Data For Marketing Or Monetization Purposes. You may not use the Blizzard Developer APIs or Data to market or promote Your or a third party’s products or services. You may not display, distribute, or otherwise disclose the Data in any advertising or promotion or use the Data to target any advertising or promotion. You may not sell, license or otherwise transfer any Data (including anonymous, aggregate or derived data) to any ad network, data broker or other advertising or monetization-related service.

   9. You May Not Sell Or License The Data To Any Party. The Data is for Your use to enhance the experience of the players of Blizzard’s games and You are not allowed to sell, license or otherwise transfer the Data to any third party.

   10. You May Not Integrate The Data Into A Physical Product. The Data should be dynamically available to the public and should not be integrated into any physical product. Doing so could prevent or hinder the deletion of the Data, should Blizzard or a user so request.

   11. The Blizzard Developer APIs And Data Are Provided “As Is”. You understand and agree that the Blizzard Developer APIs, the Data, the Developer Site are being provided "as is" and Blizzard makes no guarantee of the availability of any data, functionality, or feature provided by or through the Blizzard Developer APIs or Developer Site and is not required to provide any technical or other support services to You or any user of any Application. In addition, Blizzard may at any time revoke access to the Blizzard Developer API or Developer Site or disable part or all of any API or the Developer Site without any warning or notice.

   12. Keep Your API Key Confidential. You shall keep Your API Key confidential, and not share it with any third party. You may not sell, sublicense, or otherwise transfer or disclose Your API Key to any other party. You agree to notify Blizzard immediately if You believe that Your API Key has been compromised and You agree that You will be responsible for the use of Your API Key.

   13. Blizzard Is The Source Of The Data, But Does Not Endorse Applications. You shall clearly and conspicuously identify Blizzard in Your Application as the source of the Data, and You shall do it in such a way which makes it not appear that Blizzard is endorsing or affiliated with Your Application. Additionally, Your Application shall not contain any of Blizzard’s trademarks as a part of its title or URL.

   14. Do Not Reverse Engineer Or Interfere With The Blizzard Developer APIs. You may not reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble any Blizzard Developer API, or otherwise attempt to derive source code, trade secrets, or know-how in any Blizzard Developer API; or interfere with, modify, disrupt or disable features or functionality of any Blizzard Developer API, including without limitation any means used to circumvent any software protection or monitoring mechanisms of the Blizzard Developer APIs;

       1. You Must Protect The Data. You must use appropriate technical and organizational security measures to prevent unauthorized access or disclosure of the Data. If You determine or have reason to believe that the Data has been accessed, disclosed or otherwise leaked to any unauthorized party, You must immediately notify Blizzard within 24 hours of all circumstances related to the unauthorized access disclosure, or leak, and cooperate fully with Blizzard in rectifying the breach.

   15. You Must Have A Privacy Policy. You must post a privacy policy governing the use of the Data, which shall be consistent with Blizzard’s privacy policy, which can be found here. Without limiting the foregoing: (i) the privacy policy shall provide that the Data is provided to players on an “as is” basis consistent with the disclaimers in Section 7; (ii) You shall not collect, use, store or disclose any player’s personal information or data in any manner that violates applicable laws, rules or regulations. If You do collect, use or store any player’s personal information, You must inform them of such use and that it is subject to Your privacy policy; (iii) You shall not collect, store or otherwise intercept a player’s Blizzard password; and (iv) You will strictly abide by Your privacy policy in handling the Data.

   16. You May Not Data Mine Blizzard Products Or Services. Except as permitted through authorized use of the Blizzard Developer APIs, You will not perform any data-mining, scraping, crawling, or use any processes that sends automated queries to Blizzard or any Blizzard game, service, or website, or use any other similar methods or tools to gather or extract data other information from Blizzard or any Blizzard game or service.

   17. You May Not Use The Blizzard Developer APIs Excessively. You are limited to thirty-six thousand (36,000) calls to the Blizzard Developer API per hour or such other limitation as Blizzard may deem appropriate. If You exceed this limitation or otherwise operate the Application in a manner that degrades the performance of the Blizzard Developer APIs, Blizzard, or Blizzard’s games or services, Blizzard may suspend or terminate Your access to the Blizzard Developer APIs. You may not use other third-party services to make additional requests on Your behalf.

   18. You must refresh your data no less frequently than every thirty (30) days. Data protection laws in Europe, the United States and other countries give players the right to withdraw from the Data set you will be using. You must implement a maximum 30-day TTL (time-to-live) policy for all Data obtained through our APIs. This means You will retain data pulled from Blizzard Developer APIs for no longer than 30 days. If You are a World of Warcraft specific API developer, You have the option to perform the Data refresh by validating through an API if a character ID still exists on the Blizzard side. If it doesn’t exist when hitting this API, the character is invalid, and You must delete the character information associated with that ID and not display that information.

3. Your License To Blizzard. You grant Blizzard a non-exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free right and license to use the Application and to distribute and publicly display it and the Data compiled and arranged by it. You also grant Blizzard the right to monitor or collect data related to Your use of the Blizzard Developer API to ensure Your compliance with these API Terms of Use and to use as Blizzard may otherwise deem appropriate.

4. Independent Contractors. You and Blizzard are independent contractors, and nothing in these API Terms of Use shall be construed as creating an employer-employee relationship, a partnership, or a joint venture. While You may publicly refer to the fact that You have implemented the Blizzard Developer APIs, You agree not to make any other public statements that assert or imply any other relationship with Blizzard, unless You have Blizzard’s prior written approval.

5. Representations And Warranties. You represent and warrant to Blizzard that: (a) You have the power and authority to enter into and carry out this agreement regarding these API Terms of Use; (b) if You are entering into these API Terms of Use on behalf of an entity, You have the power and authority to cause such entity to enter into this agreement regarding these API Terms of Use; (c) the information You provided when Registering on the Developer Site was true and correct and will remain true and correct as long as you possess Data; (d) Your Application does not and will not infringe upon the intellectual property rights of any third party; and (e) You and Your Applications comply with all applicable laws, rules, and regulations, including but not limited to the CCPA and the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.

6. Indemnity. You agree to hold harmless and indemnify Blizzard, and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents, and employees from and against any third party claim arising from or in any way related to Your or Your users’ use of Your Application, the Blizzard Developer APIs and/or Data, Your breach of these API Terms of Use including, but not limited to any representations or warranties, or other actions connected with the use of the Blizzard Developer APIs, including any liability or expense arising from claims, losses, damages, suits, judgments, litigation costs and attorneys’ fees, of every kind and nature.

7. NO WARRANTY. BLIZZARD PROVIDES THE BLIZZARD DEVELOPER APIs, DATA, AND DEVELOPER SITE “AS IS,” AND “AS AVAILABLE,” AND THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO SATISFACTORY QUALITY, PERFORMANCE, ACCURACY, AND EFFORT IS WITH YOU. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, BLIZZARD MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. BLIZZARD EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS, EXPRESS, STATUTORY AND IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION (A) WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WORKMANLIKE EFFORT, ACCURACY, TITLE, QUIET ENJOYMENT, NO ENCUMBRANCES, NO LIENS AND NON-INFRINGEMENT, (B) WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS ARISING THROUGH COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE, AND (C) WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE ACCESS OR USE. If you are a resident of Australia, you may have additional rights and/or remedies under local law. Our goods come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law. You are entitled to a replacement or refund for a major failure and compensation for any other reasonably foreseeable loss or damage. You are also entitled to have the goods repaired or replaced if the goods fail to be of acceptable quality and the failure does not amount to a major failure. The provisions of this clause and the clause containing the Limitation of Liability and Indemnity herein apply only to the extent permitted by the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth). The entitlement to a replacement or a refund for a major failure is not subject to Blizzard’s option. To submit a warranty claim to Blizzard, please call 1800 041 378 or send to PO Box 544, Pyrmont NSW 2009 Australia. The user is responsible for the costs of returning media to Blizzard.

8. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. IN NO EVENT WILL BLIZZARD BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF, BASED ON, OR RESULTING FROM THESE API TERMS OF USE OR YOUR USE OF THE BLIZZARD DEVELOPER APIs, DATA, OR DEVELOPER SITE EVEN IF YOU HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. THESE LIMITATIONS AND EXCLUSIONS APPLY WITHOUT REGARD TO WHETHER THE DAMAGES ARISE FROM (A) BREACH OF CONTRACT, (B) BREACH OF WARRANTY, (C) NEGLIGENCE, OR (D) ANY OTHER CAUSE OF ACTION. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH ANY PART OF THESE API TERMS OF USE, OR YOU HAVE ANY DISPUTE OR CLAIM AGAINST BLIZZARD WITH RESPECT TO THESE API TERMS OF USE, THE BLIZZARD DEVELOPER APIs, THE DATA OR THE DEVELOPER SITE, THEN YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY IS TO DISCONTINUE USING THE BLIZZARD DEVELOPER APIs, DATA AND DEVELOPER SITE.

9. Intellectual Property. Blizzard is the owner or licensee of all right, title, and interest in and to the Blizzard Developer API, Data, and the Developer Site, and all features and components thereof. All rights not explicitly granted in these API Terms of Use are reserved to Blizzard. Without limiting the foregoing:

   1. Blizzard owns all right, title and interest (including all intellectual property rights) in and to the Blizzard Developer APIs, including all output and executables of the Blizzard Developer APIs, and including any modifications to or derivatives of the Blizzard Developer APIs. You agree to abide by all applicable intellectual property laws and other laws with respect to their use. Except to the extent of any license granted herein by Blizzard to You, these API Terms of Use do not grant to You any right, title, or interest in any intellectual property owned or licensed by Blizzard, including but not limited to the Blizzard APIs, the Developer Site, the Data nor any derivatives of them.

   2. You acknowledge and agree that Blizzard may independently develop other applications and/or websites through its use of the Blizzard Developer APIs and/or Data or otherwise which may be identical or similar to Your Applications in function, code or other characteristics. You agree that, to the extent any similarity is based upon the Blizzard API and/or Data, You will have no ownership or intellectual property rights in such applications and/or websites. You further acknowledge and agree that any application and/or website developed by Blizzard and using the Blizzard APIs and/or Data that may be identical or similar to Your Application in function, code or other characteristics will not be deemed to violate any of Your rights in Your Application, and that any such characteristics are coincidental in nature. In this regard, You expressly grant to Blizzard a limited, non-exclusive license in and to any proprietary rights You may hold in any Application for purposes of developing, using and exploiting any application and/or website developed by Blizzard using the Blizzard APIs and/or Data.

   3. You hereby irrevocably assign and agree to irrevocably assign, without charge, all intellectual property rights relating to oral and written comments and suggestions provided by You relating to the Blizzard Developer APIs, Data, or Developer Site (“Feedback”) and You will take all actions deemed necessary by Blizzard in order for Blizzard to record, perfect and maintain its right in and to all Feedback.

10. Changes. Blizzard reserves the right to change the API Terms of Use, and You are responsible for regularly reviewing these API Terms of Use. Your continued use of the Blizzard Developer API and/or Data after the effective date of such changes will constitute acceptance of and agreement to any such changes. If You don't agree with any such changes, or to any of the terms in these API Terms of Use, Your only remedy is to discontinue using the Blizzard Developer API, and Data. Blizzard may suspend or discontinue the Blizzard Developer API at any time to You and/or to others, without notice.

11. Termination.

    1. Blizzard may change, suspend or discontinue the Blizzard Developer API and suspend or terminate Your use of the Blizzard Developer API, Data and/or Developer Site at any time for any reason, without notice. If Blizzard suspends or terminates Your use of the Blizzard Developer API, Data and/or Developer Site, you must immediately cease using the Blizzard Developer API and Data from Your Application, and delete all copies of the Data in your possession or under your control.

    2. You may also terminate these API Terms of Use by ceasing to use the Blizzard Developer API, Data and Developer Site and removing implementation of the Blizzard Developer API and Data from Your Application, and deleting all copies of the Data in your possession or under your control.

    3. If any individual requests that you cease using their Data, either by making a request to You directly, making a request through Blizzard, or requesting that their account be de-linked from Your Application, you must immediately cease using the Blizzard Developer API and Data from Your Application, and delete all copies of the individual's Data in your possession or under your control.

12. Choice of Law; Disputes. These API Terms of Use are governed by the laws of the State of California. Any and all disputes between you and Blizzard which arise out of this Agreement will be resolved in accordance with the Blizzard Entertainment Dispute Resolution Policy, which is available for your review here.

13. Equitable Remedies. You agree that Blizzard would be irreparably damaged if the terms of these API Terms of Use are not specifically followed and enforced. In such an event, You agree that Blizzard shall be entitled, without bond, other security, or proof of damages, to appropriate equitable remedies if You breach these API Terms of Use; and that the awarding of equitable remedies to Blizzard will not limit its ability to receive remedies that are otherwise available to Blizzard under applicable law.

14. General.

    1. Blizzard may assign these API Terms of Use, in whole or in part, to any person or entity at any time with or without your consent. You may not assign these API Terms of Use without Blizzard's prior written consent. Your assignment of these API Terms of Use without Blizzard's prior written consent shall be void.

    2. Blizzard's failure to enforce a provision of these API Terms of Use shall not be construed as a (1) waiver of such provision, or (2) diminishment of any right to enforce such provisions. Blizzard may choose to waive a provision of these API Terms of Use in regards to a particular instance; however, you are still obligate to comply with that waived provision in the future.

    3. Notices:

       1. If to Blizzard. All notices given by you under these API Terms of Use shall be in writing and addressed to: Blizzard Entertainment, 1 Blizzard Way, Irvine, CA 92618, Attn: Legal Department.

       2. If to You. It’s important that the contact information You provided during the Registration process remain accurate at all times. All notices given by Blizzard under these API Terms of Use shall be sent to the email address you provided during Registration (the one associated with Your Battle.net account). Please keep your Registration information up to date.

    4. Blizzard shall not be liable for any delay or failure to perform resulting from causes outside the reasonable control of Blizzard, such as natural disasters, unforeseen intrusions into our cyberspace, war, terrorism, riots, embargoes, acts of civil or military authorities, fire, floods, accidents, strikes, or shortages of transportation facilities, fuel, energy, labor or materials.

    5. If any part of these API Terms of Use is determined to be invalid or unenforceable, then that portion shall be severed, and the remainder of these API Terms of Use shall be given full force and effect.

    6. These API Terms of Use constitute the entire agreement between You and Blizzard with respect to the Blizzard Developer API and Data and supersede all prior or contemporaneous communications of any kind between You and Blizzard with respect to the Blizzard Developer API, or Data.

    7. The provisions of Sections 2(g), 2(i), 2(k), 2(n), 2(p), 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, and 14 shall survive termination of these API Terms of Use for any reason.