Advertising Disclosure
Last updated: November 30, 2025
At Tidewalker, we believe in complete transparency regarding our advertising practices and business relationships. This disclosure explains how we may earn income through various partnerships and advertising arrangements, ensuring you understand the nature of our recommendations and content.
Our Commitment to Transparency
We operate with honesty and integrity in all our business dealings. When we recommend products, services, or resources, we do so based on genuine belief in their value for game development studios. However, some recommendations may result in financial compensation for Tidewalker through affiliate arrangements or partnerships.
This disclosure helps you understand the financial relationships that may influence our content and recommendations. We're committed to maintaining editorial independence and providing honest assessments regardless of potential compensation.
Affiliate Relationships
What Are Affiliate Programs?
Tidewalker may participate in affiliate marketing programs, which means we can earn commissions when you purchase products or services through links on our website. These programs allow companies to compensate us for referring potential customers, typically through a percentage of the sale or a flat referral fee.
When you click an affiliate link and make a purchase, the company pays us a commission at no additional cost to you. The price you pay is the same whether you use our link or go directly to the company's website.
Types of Affiliate Relationships
We may maintain affiliate relationships for:
- • Game development tools and software platforms
- • Web hosting and technical services we recommend
- • Educational resources and courses for developers
- • Professional services relevant to game studios
- • Analytics and testing platforms
Not all product recommendations involve affiliate relationships. We clearly disclose when content may result in compensation, typically through notices near relevant links or at the beginning of articles.
Our Recommendation Policy
We only recommend products and services we genuinely believe can benefit game development studios. Potential affiliate compensation doesn't influence our assessment of quality or suitability. If we wouldn't use a product ourselves or recommend it to a friend, we won't promote it regardless of commission rates.
We test products when possible and base recommendations on actual experience, industry reputation, and feedback from the development community. Our goal is to provide value to our audience, not simply maximize affiliate income.
FTC Compliance
In accordance with Federal Trade Commission guidelines, we disclose material connections between ourselves and the companies whose products we promote. This ensures you can evaluate our recommendations with full knowledge of potential financial interests. Affiliate relationships constitute material connections under FTC regulations.
Sponsored Content
Identification of Sponsored Materials
Occasionally, Tidewalker may publish content that is sponsored by or created in partnership with other companies. Sponsored content is material that a company has paid us to create or promote. This might include articles, case studies, or featured listings highlighting specific products or services.
All sponsored content is clearly labeled as such at the beginning of the content. Common labels include "Sponsored Post," "Paid Partnership," "In Partnership With," or similar clear disclosures. We maintain editorial standards even for sponsored content and ensure it provides genuine value to our audience.
Brand Partnerships
We may enter into long-term partnerships with brands that align with our values and serve the game development community. These partnerships might involve ongoing content creation, event collaboration, or promotional activities. All brand partnerships are disclosed when relevant content is published.
Partnership arrangements are structured to preserve our editorial independence. While partners may suggest topics or provide information, final content decisions rest with Tidewalker. We retain the right to publish honest assessments and decline to promote products that don't meet our standards.
Content Authenticity
Even when content is sponsored, we ensure it reflects our genuine perspective and provides practical value. Sponsors may review content for accuracy regarding their products but cannot dictate our opinions or suppress legitimate concerns. Our reputation depends on maintaining trust with our audience, which we prioritize over any single sponsorship arrangement.
Third-Party Advertising
Display Advertising Networks
We may use third-party advertising networks to display ads on our website. These networks serve ads based on your browsing history and interests across multiple websites. Advertising networks use cookies and similar technologies to track your activity and deliver relevant advertisements.
Common advertising partners may include Google AdSense and similar platforms. These networks have their own privacy policies and data practices, which are separate from our Privacy Policy. We encourage you to review their policies to understand how they use your data.
Behavioral Targeting
Third-party advertisers may use cookies to collect information about your visits to our website and other sites to provide targeted advertisements. This practice, known as behavioral or interest-based advertising, attempts to show you ads that are more relevant to your interests.
You can opt out of behavioral advertising from many networks through the Digital Advertising Alliance's opt-out page or the Network Advertising Initiative's opt-out tool. Note that opting out doesn't prevent all advertising; it simply means ads won't be targeted based on your interests.
Ad Relevance and Quality
While we strive to display relevant, high-quality advertisements, we don't endorse all products advertised on our website. Third-party advertising networks control which ads appear, and we may not review every advertisement before it displays. If you encounter inappropriate or misleading ads, please contact us so we can address the issue with our advertising partners.
User Rights and Controls
Managing Advertisement Preferences
You have several options for controlling advertisements:
- • Adjust cookie settings through our Cookie Policy page to limit tracking for advertising purposes
- • Use browser privacy settings to block third-party cookies
- • Install ad-blocking browser extensions (though this may affect site functionality)
- • Opt out through industry opt-out tools mentioned above
Your Data Rights
You have rights regarding data collected for advertising purposes, including the right to access, correct, or delete personal information. For data collected directly by Tidewalker, contact us using the information on our contact page. For data collected by third-party advertisers, you'll need to contact those companies directly through their privacy policies.
Under California Consumer Privacy Act and similar regulations, you may have additional rights regarding the sale of personal information. We don't directly sell personal information, but third-party advertising networks may be considered "selling" data under some definitions. Refer to our Privacy Policy for more details on your rights.
Reporting Concerns
If you have concerns about any advertising content, affiliate relationships, or sponsored materials on our website, please contact us. We take compliance seriously and will investigate any reports of misleading disclosures or inappropriate advertising practices. Your feedback helps us maintain high standards for transparency.
Direct Service Revenue
The primary source of Tidewalker's revenue comes from direct payment for game development services rather than advertising or affiliate income. When you engage our services for game development consulting, technical implementation, or industry networking, you're paying us directly for professional work.
This business model aligns our interests with yours—we succeed when we deliver value through quality services, not when we drive clicks or conversions for advertisers. However, supplemental income from affiliate partnerships and advertising helps us maintain free educational content and resources for the game development community.
Questions About Disclosures
If you have questions about our advertising practices, affiliate relationships, or any financial arrangements that might influence our content, we encourage you to contact us. We're committed to providing clear, honest answers about our business model and revenue sources.
We may update this disclosure from time to time to reflect changes in our advertising practices or regulatory requirements. The "Last updated" date at the top indicates when we most recently revised this document. Continued use of our website after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated disclosure.