Terms of Service

Article 1 (Application)

  1. These “Terms and Conditions” set forth the terms and conditions for the use of all Services provided on the Site by SHUEISHA INC. (the “Company”). Users shall use the Services in accordance with these Terms and Conditions.
  2. In addition to these Terms and Conditions, in relation to the Services, “Frequently Asked Questions”, “Guidelines for Posting”, etc. will be put out to provide how to use and precautionary statements for the Services, which shall also form part of these Terms and Conditions.
  3. In the event of any discrepancy between the provisions of these Terms and Conditions and those of “Frequently Asked Questions”, “Guidelines for Posting”, or other explanations of the Services outside these Terms and Conditions, the provisions of these Terms and Conditions shall prevail. Provided that for the provisions of trial versions and beta versions of the Services, and for Events or other activities to be held on the Site, separate rules or agreements may be set out for each of these cases. In such cases, the separate rules and agreements shall prevail over these Terms and Conditions.

Article 2 (Definitions)

  1. “Site” means the website named “Game Pitch Base” provided by the Company.
  2. “Services” means all services provided by the Company on the Site.
  3. “User(s)” individually or collectively means Registered User(s) and Guest User(s).
  4. “Registered User” means an individual who has successfully completed the user registration procedures in accordance with Article 3 (User Registration).
  5. “Guest User” means an individual who uses the Services without successfully completing the user registration procedures in accordance with Article 3 (User Registration).
  6. “Publisher” means a corporation engaged in the sale, etc. of games to which one or more Users belong and which is registered with the Services.
  7. “Developer” means a corporation or entity engaged in the development of games to which one or more Users belong and which is registered with the Services.
  8. “Content” means all data (including User-Posted Content) including images, videos, texts, and sounds posted by the Company on the Site.
  9. “User-Posted Content” means the data sent or posted by Registered Users to or on the Site using the Services, including, but not limited to, profiles, images, videos, texts, sounds, and data incidental thereto, whether they are posts that can be viewed by anyone on the Site or messages communicated privately between specific Registered Users.
  10. “Event” means a scheme that solicits posts and plans from Registered Users for a specific period of time on the Site and conducts examinations and elections thereof in a manner determined by the Company.
  11. “Pitch Page” means a page that contains information about a game in which Users participate in the production of such game.
  12. “Right to View Pitches” means the right for Users registered as members of a Publisher in the Services to view a Pitch Page, which may be granted to a Publisher.

Article 3 (User Registration)

  1. Since the Services uses the same user accounts as those of the “Game Creators Camp”, Article 3 of the Terms and Conditions of Use of the “Game Creators Camp” (in Japanese) shall apply to the matters not specified in these Terms and Conditions.
  2. The user registration for the Services shall be deemed completed when a person who intends to become a Registered User has agreed to comply with these Terms and Conditions, has made an application for registration in the manner prescribed by the Company, and the Company has accepted such application.
  3. Only persons who are (18) years of age or older are eligible to register for the Services.
  4. The Company may refuse registration or re-registration of Users at its discretion when any of the following items applies. Even if registration has already been completed, the access to some or all of the Services may be restricted, or the user registration may be cancelled. In addition, the Company shall neither be liable for any damage suffered by Users or any third party as a result thereof, nor assume any obligation to disclose the reason thereof.
    1. There is false, incorrect or missing user registration information.
    2. One (1) and the same user account was used by multiple persons.
    3. There are duplicate user registrations by the same person except as permitted by the Company.
    4. There was special access for purposes other than normal use.
    5. The person wrongfully obtained another person’s user account or password, or made an unauthorized login using another person’s user account.
    6. The person put an excessive load on the system beyond normal use.
    7. There has been a violation of these Terms and Conditions.
    8. The person has been subject to any of the measures specified in Article 6.
    9. The Company determines that the person is an anti-social force, etc., or that the person is engaged in any kind of exchange/interaction or engagement with anti-social forces, etc.
    10. The person is repeating nuisance activities for other Users.
    11. The Site was used for any purpose that deviates from the intent of the Services.
    12. The Company otherwise determines it inappropriate.

Article 4 (Privacy)

For providing the Services, the Company will obtain the minimum necessary information according to the purpose of use of Users. In addition, privacy information obtained from Users will be handled in a legitimate and appropriate manner in accordance with the separately stipulated “Shueisha Privacy Guidelines” (in Japanese).

Article 5 (Prohibitions)

  1. When using the Services, Users shall not commit any of the following acts that constitute legal violation against the Company or any third party.
    1. Any act that infringes or is likely to infringe intellectual property rights
    2. Defamation, insults, or interference with respect to another business
    3. Violation of privacy
    4. Fraud or intimidation
    5. Establishing a pyramid scheme or soliciting or operating the same
    6. Performing illegal manipulation of the Company’s or other persons’ computers, which includes, but not limited to, the act of violating the Act on Prohibition of Unauthorized Computer Access of Japan and the act that falls under the crime of obstructing business by damaging a computer (under Article 234-2 of the Penal Code of Japan)
    7. Other acts that constitute legal violations or are related to criminal acts
  2. When using the Services, Users shall not engage in improper acts that fall under any of the following items.
    1. Any act that may cause a crime, such as preliminary notice of a crime or guidance of a crime
    2. Discriminatory expressions based on race, ethnicity, beliefs, gender, social status, place of residence, physical characteristics, medical history, education, property, income, etc.
    3. Vulgar, harmful, or indecent acts that are ethically problematic, or disclosure of information that disgusts others, or pornography, prostitution, or adult entertainment business, or disclosure of information related thereto
    4. Nuisance, harassment, slander, or causing mental or economic damage to others without a legitimate right
    5. Identifying him/herself as an individual, company, or organization other than him/herself, using the name of a particular company or organization without authorization to do so, identifying him/herself as a fictitious individual, company, or organization, or pretending to have a business alliance or cooperative relationship with another individual, company, or organization despite such a fact being not true
    6. Provision of benefits to antisocial forces
    7. Other acts that are contrary to public order and morality or are regarded as socially inappropriate behavior
    8. Disclosure of information that is difficult to fact-check or that is false
    9. Acts that are, being contrary to the intent of the Services, not aimed at introducing creators registered as Users or their works, providing or collecting information, etc. (including, but not limited to, acts that are aimed at seeking socially inappropriate contacts and encounters with unacquainted persons, and soliciting, negotiating, recruiting, etc. for projects that are not related to the works posted by Users in the Services)
    10. Using a user name that might cause discomfort or misunderstanding to others, or that is the same as or similar to the name of the Company or any other person, or a commonly known company name, organization name, or trade name, and might be misunderstood as those
    11. Continuing any act pointed out by the Company without complying with the cautions and warnings given by the Company
    12. Acts that are in conflict with the Guidelines for Posting separately set forth by the Company
    13. Other acts that the Company determines inappropriate

Article 6 (Measures against Violations)

  1. The Company may prohibit Users from using the Site if such Users commit any of the acts prohibited by these Terms and Conditions. In addition, the Company may, without prior notice, hide or delete User-Posted Content, temporarily or permanently discontinue the Services, cancel his/her registration as a Registered User, or refuse re-registration in accordance with Paragraph 4 of Article 3 on all accounts used by such Users.
  2. The Company shall not be liable for any damages suffered by Users as a result of any measures taken by the Company under this Article.

Article 7 (User-Posted Content)

  1. Each User represents and warrants to the Company that he/she has the lawful right to post or send the User-Posted Content and that the posted data does not infringe the rights of third parties.
  2. The copyright of User-Posted Content belongs to the Registered User him/herself.
  3. Each User shall permit the Company to conduct the following acts regarding his/her User-Posted Content and shall not exercise the moral rights of author against such acts by the Company. In addition, he/she shall represent and warrant to the Company that he/she is authorized to give such permission with respect to such User-Posted Content.
    1. Use of the User-Posted Content by the Company and/or any person who has succeeded or been licensed the relevant right from the Company free of charge, non-exclusively and perpetually to the extent necessary for the operation, provision, promotion, advertising and publicity of the Services, and the construction, improvement and maintenance of the Company’s systems.
    2. Provision by the Company of functionality that enables users to view the User-Posted Content in the Company’s affiliated services other than the Services.
    3. Modification or omission of the User-Posted Content, such as resizing or trimming of images, by the Company and/or any person who has succeeded or been licensed the relevant right from the Company to the extent necessary for the provision or improvement of the Services.
  4. The Company does not guarantee the authenticity of the contents of the User-Posted Content. In addition, the Company will not be involved in any way with or assume any responsibility for any damage suffered by Users due to User-Posted Content.
  5. The Company will not be involved in any way with or assume any responsibility for any trouble with other Users arising from User-Posted Content.
  6. In the event where a matter, which violates these Terms and Conditions, the Guidelines for Posting, or any other regulations governing the use of the Services, is discovered in any User-Posted Content, the Company may, at its discretion, hide, delete, or modify such User-Posted Content without prior notice. The Company shall neither be liable for any damage suffered by the relevant User due to such measures, nor assume any obligation to disclose to the User the reason for taking such measures.

Article 8 (Protection of Secrecy of Communications)

  1. The Company has an obligation not to view the contents of the communications between Users (including posts of messages that are only allowed to be viewed by certain Users), and not to disclose or divulge to third parties the contents and existence of such communications and the name of the person with whom such communications are made, without the consent of the sender.
  2. If any of the following items applies, the Company shall not assume the obligation of confidentiality set forth in the preceding paragraph to the extent specified in each of the following items.
    1. A compulsory disposition or court order has been made pursuant to the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Japan or the Act on Communications Interception for Criminal Investigation of Japan: To the extent provided by such disposition or court order
    2. A compulsory disposition has been made pursuant to laws and regulations: To the extent provided by such disposition or order
    3. The Company has determined that the requirements for requesting disclosure pursuant to Article 5 of the Act on the Limitation of Liability for Damages of Specified Telecommunications Service Providers and the Right to Demand Disclosure of Identification Information of the Senders of Japan have been satisfied: Within the scope of such disclosure request
    4. The Company deems it necessary for the protection of the life, body or property of others: To the extent necessary for such protection
    5. The Company deems it necessary for preventing unauthorized use of the Services: To the extent necessary for preventing unauthorized use

Article 9 (Posting of Pitch Pages)

  1. Users can post pitch pages in the Services for a certain period of time by paying usage fees.
  2. Posting of pitch pages can only be done by Users who have the means of payment specified by the Company.
  3. Users can temporarily make the pitch pages, posted by them, private before the end of the posting period. The posting period for the pitch pages once posted will not be extended even if they are made private.
  4. Users can delete pitch pages, posted by them, before the end of the posting period.

Article 10 (Viewing of Pitch Pages)

  1. By paying usage fees, Users can grant the Right to View Pitches to a Publisher to which he/she belongs.
  2. Granting of the Right to View Pitches can only be done by Users who have the means of payment specified by the Company.
  3. The period of use of the Right to View Pitches will be automatically renewed unless a User belonging to a Publisher cancels it according to the method specified by the Company, and usage fees will be charged upon each renewal.
  4. Users may cancel the use of the Right to View Pitches according to the method specified by the Company. Even if he/she takes the cancellation procedure before the expiration of the relevant period of use, the Right to View Pitches shall remain effective for the rest of such period of use, and shall terminate upon the expiration of such period of use.
  5. Users may deregister a Publisher to which he/she belonged to in the Services from the Services before the expiration of the period of use of the Right to View Pitches. In such cases, the Right to View Pitches granted because of the fact that the User belonged to the respective Publisher, shall be lost.
  6. Users can upgrade from their current price plans to a more expensive price plan at any time. The period of use shall not change with the upgrade, and shall expire on the same date as was provided before the upgrade. The usage fees payable shall be the amount obtained by subtracting the amount of the unused portion of the previous price plan from the amount of the new price plan. The amount of the unused portion of the previous price plan shall be calculated by dividing the usage fees by the number of days remaining in the period of use.
  7. Users can downgrade from their current price plans to a lower price plan at any time. Provided that the number of Registered Users of the Publisher who uses the price plan must be not more than the allowed number of users of the downgraded price plan. The period of use shall not change with the downgrade, and shall expire on the same date as was provided before the downgrade. Change of the price plan will be executed immediately upon making of an application by the User, but the User shall not be entitled to receive the difference between the usage fees already paid by him/her before the downgrade and the usage fees after the downgrade.
  8. In the event that a User is subject to cancellation or suspension of a credit card, bank account, or any other payment method registered as a means of settlement, the Company shall be entitled to discontinue the granting of the Right to View Pitches without notifying such User.
  9. In the event prescribed in the preceding paragraph, usage fees, etc. shall accrue until the end of the period of use when the cancellation/suspension was implemented.

Article 11 (Publisher and Developer Registration)

  1. Users may apply to the Company to register the corporation or entity to which they belong as a Developer with the Services.
  2. Users may apply to the Company to register the corporation to which they belong as a Publisher with the Services. In such cases, the Company shall examine whether or not the registration is acceptable based on the contents of the application, and if the Company determines that the registration is unacceptable, such as when false declaration is found, the Company may refuse the registration.
  3. Users may not apply to register any user who does not actually belong to a corporation as a member of Publisher, and if such fact is found, the Company may claim compensation from such Publisher for any economic loss incurred.
  4. The Company makes no warranty with respect to the accuracy or credibility of the registered contents or other information regarding a Publisher or a Developer, and shall not be liable for any damage caused thereby.

Article 12 (License to Use Content)

  1. All copyrights and other intellectual property rights related to the Services, except for User-Posted Content and contents posted or submitted by Users for Events in the Services shall belong to the Company or a person who has granted the Company license(s) to to use such intellectual property rights. The license to use the Services under these Terms and Conditions shall not imply the license to use the intellectual property rights of the Company or a person who has licensed the Company to use such intellectual property rights.
  2. Users may use Content only for the purpose of collecting and sharing information for the development, advertisement, and sale of games pertaining to Content, and Users and the Company shall grant such use of the Contents.
  3. Users may not reproduce, transmit, transfer, lend, translate, adapt, or otherwise use Content in any manner except as permitted by the preceding paragraph and the Copyright Act of Japan.

Article 13 (Contact and Notice from the Company)

The Company may contact Registered Users by sending e-mails to their registered e-mail address. The Company may send Users e-mails containing important notices related to the Services as well as information about updates, Events, and other information. Registered Users shall be liable for any damage caused when they are unable to receive an e-mail from the Company for any reason, such as the expiration or problem of their registered e-mail address, and, in such cases, the Company shall not be liable for any such damage.

Article 14 (Usage Fees)

  1. Usage fees paid by a User to the Company shall not be refunded unless otherwise stipulated in these Terms and Conditions.
  2. Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 18 hereof, in the event of a serious malfunction, such as unavailability of the Services due to gross negligence on the part of the Company, the Company shall compensate for the damage incurred by a User or refund the usage fees to a User if such malfunction continues for twenty-four (24) hours or more from the time when such User becomes aware of the occurrence of such malfunction, to the extent of the amount (rounded down to the nearest yen) obtained by multiplying the usage fees paid by such User by the period of such malfunction (in months, days less than one month shall be deemed one month).

Article 15 (Withdrawal)

  1. Registered Users may cancel their registration as a Registered User by notifying the Company in the manner prescribed by the Company.
  2. The handling of the registered information after the withdrawal procedures shall be in accordance with the provisions of Article 4.

Article 16 (Changes in Contents of the Services)

  1. The Company may change, add, or delete the contents of the Services without prior notice.
  2. When the Company terminates the provision of the Services, it shall notify Registered Users to that effect.
  3. In the event where Users become unable to view or use the Content posted on the Site as a result of the measures taken in accordance with this Article, the Company shall not be liable for storing or returning any data or information thereof.
  4. The Company shall not be liable for any damage suffered by Users resulting from any measure taken in accordance with this Article.

Article 17 (Renewal of these Terms and Conditions)

  1. The Company may change these Terms and Conditions when the change is in the interest of Users or when it is deemed reasonable in light of the necessity of the change, the appropriateness of the contents after the change, and other circumstances, without being inconsistent with the purpose of the contract with Users. In such cases, the change of these Terms and Conditions shall not require the approval of Users, and the terms of use of the Site and the Services shall be in accordance with these Terms and Conditions after the change.
  2. The Company shall notify the change by posting a statement on the Site to the effect that the change will be made, the details of the change, and the effective date thereof within a reasonable period specified by the Company in advance.
  3. When a User uses the Services after the change in these Terms and Conditions becomes effective, such User shall be deemed to have agreed to all the contents of these Terms and Conditions after the change. If a User does not agree to these Terms and Conditions after the change, such User shall not use the Services.

Article 18 (Disclaimer)

  1. The Company may suspend the provision of the Services in whole or in part without prior notice to Registered Users when the Company deems it necessary for inspection or maintenance of the Services or in the event of failure of the equipment or other causes, and the Company shall not be liable for any damage caused thereby.
  2. The Company makes no warranty with respect to the accuracy, credibility, commercial value, or availability of Content provided in the Services and information thereof, and the Company shall not be liable for any damage caused thereby.
  3. The Company makes no warranty with respect to the accuracy, completeness, suitability, etc. of any information displayed on the external site or application (the “External Site”) linked to Content (including User-Posted Content) in the Services. The Company shall not be liable for any damage or disadvantage incurred by Users or any third party as a result of the use of the External Site. Users shall use the External Site at their own discretion and responsibility.
  4. The Services shall be provided “as is” without warranty of any kind to the extent permitted by applicable law, and the Company does not warrant that the Services will be free from any malfunction or failure.
  5. The Company shall not be liable for any damage incurred by Registered Users with respect to the suspension, discontinuation, termination, unavailability or modification of the provision of the Services by the Company, deletion or loss of information sent by Registered Users in the Services, deletion of Registered Users, loss of registered data or failure of or damage to equipment due to the use of the Services, or any other damage incurred by Registered Users with respect to the Services (the “User Damage”) unless such damage is caused by willful misconduct or gross negligence on the part of the Company.
  6. In the event where the Company assumes responsibility for any damage to Users for any reason, the Company shall not be liable for compensating for the User Damage in excess of ten thousand (10,000) yen, nor shall the Company be liable for any incidental, indirect, special and future damage and any damage pertaining to lost profits.
  7. The Company is not obliged to monitor the Services; provided, however, that the Company may take measures in accordance with Article 6 in the event of any act that violates or is likely to violate these Terms and Conditions.
  8. The Company shall not be liable for any transaction, communication, or dispute arising between Users or between a User and any third party in connection with the Services.

Article 19 (Severability)

If any provision or any part of these Terms and Conditions is held invalid or unenforceable pursuant to the Consumer Contract Act of Japan or other laws and regulations, the remaining provisions of these Terms and Conditions and the remaining part of the provisions determined invalid or unenforceable shall remain in full force and effect.

Article 20 (Governing Law and Jurisdiction)

This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of Japan and the Tokyo District Court shall be the court of exclusive jurisdiction.

Article 21 (Language)

The Japanese version of these Terms and Conditions, guidelines, etc. shall be the original, and in the event of any inconsistency between the Japanese version and any other version, the Japanese version shall prevail.

Enacted: January 31, 2024 JST