Acceptable Use Policy and Eligibility

Acceptable Use Policy

Your use of the PlayFab Services is subject to this Acceptable Use Policy. PlayFab reserves the right to terminate your account and cease all service if you are found to be in violation of this policy. We may change this policy at any time. It is your responsibility to keep up-to-date with and adhere to it. All capitalized terms used herein have the meanings stated in the Terms of Service.

When using the PlayFab Services or any associated forums, support sites or message boards:

i. Don’t do anything illegal, or try to generate or share content that is illegal.

ii. Don’t engage in any activity that exploits, harms, or threatens to harm children.

iii. Don’t send spam or engage in phishing, or try to generate or distribute malware. Spam is unwanted or unsolicited bulk email, postings, contact requests, SMS (text messages), instant messages, or similar electronic communications. Phishing is sending emails or other electronic communications to fraudulently or unlawfully induce recipients to reveal personal or sensitive information, such as passwords, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, passport numbers, credit card information, financial information, or other sensitive information, or to gain access to accounts or records, exfiltration of documents or other sensitive information, payment and/or financial benefit. Malware includes any activity designed to cause technical harm, such as delivering malicious executables, organizing denial of service attacks or managing command and control servers.

iv. Don’t publicly display or use the PlayFab Services to generate or share inappropriate content or material (involving, for example, nudity, bestiality, pornography, offensive language, graphic violence, self-harm, or criminal activity).

v. Don’t engage in activity that is fraudulent, false or misleading (e.g., asking for money under false pretenses, impersonating someone else, creating fake accounts, automating inauthentic activity, generating or sharing content that is intentionally deceptive, manipulating the PlayFab Services to increase play count, or affect rankings, ratings, or comments).

vi. Don’t circumvent any restrictions on access to, usage, or availability of the PlayFab Services (e.g., attempting to “jailbreak” an AI system or impermissible scraping).

vii. Don’t engage in activity that is harmful to you, the PlayFab Services, or others (e.g., excessive use, transmitting viruses, trying to generate or sharing content that harasses, bullies or threatens others, posting terrorist or violent extremist content, communicating hate speech, or advocating violence against others).

viii. Don’t violate or infringe upon the rights of others (e.g., unauthorized sharing of copyrighted music or other copyrighted material, taking photographs or video/audio recordings of others without their consent, etc.).

ix. Don’t engage in activity that violates the privacy of others.

x. Don’t use the PlayFab Services for gambling, pornography or cryptocurrency.

xi. Don’t help others break these rules.

Foundation Mode Eligibility Requirements

Foundation Mode allows developers to use PlayFab Services at no cost for titles intended for release on the Xbox Store (PC and/or Console).

Eligibility Requirements

To activate Foundation Mode, a title must meet all of the following:

• Partner Center Seller ID: A valid Partner Center Seller ID must be linked to the PlayFab title.
• Product ID of Type “Xbox Game”: The title must be linked to a Partner Center Product ID classified as an Xbox Game under the associated Seller ID.
• Xbox Add-On Enabled: The PlayFab title must have the Xbox Add-On configured, linking it to an Xbox ID for authentication and entitlement validation.

Development & Testing

Foundation Mode is available for the entirety of a title’s development, with no time limit. All reasonable pre-launch development and testing activities are permitted, including:

• All dev testing, playtesting, and QA activities scoped internally to the studio or publisher.
• Limited scale testing within reasonable bounds for short durations (hours), conducted a limited number of times sufficient to gain pre-launch confidence. Recurring daily or weekly scale testing is not permissible.
• Limited public alpha and beta testing (days).

For scale testing, including alpha and beta tests, developers are encouraged to use Xbox flighting to validate their Xbox Store experience ahead of launch.

Developers are encouraged to set a Release Date in Partner Center to signal launch intent.

Developers are encouraged to raise a support ticket in advance of all scale tests or other large testing events so the PlayFab team can ensure a smooth experience.

Launch Obligation

Developers using Foundation Mode agree to the following:

• The title must be available on the Xbox Store (PC and/or Console) on or near the game’s initial public launch date on any platform.
• A 30-day grace period is provided following the title’s initial public launch on any platform. If the title is not available on the Xbox Store within 30 days of its first public launch elsewhere, it will be considered non-compliant.
• Foundation Mode is not intended for titles that launch as timed exclusives on non-Xbox platforms.

Non-Compliance

If a title does not meet its launch or eligibility obligations:

1. The developer will be notified via email (using the email addresses associated with the developer’s account) and given a defined period to resolve the issue.
2. If the issue is not resolved within the specified period, the title will be disabled and will become non-operational.
3. Titles disabled for non-compliance will require support intervention to reactivate.

Microsoft reserves the right to monitor compliance and enforce service changes.