Last updated October 23, 2026

Studio terms

These terms are an agreement between CommandVA LLC, a Minnesota company that runs Indie Jury ("we"), and the studio that sets up a test ("you"). The person who accepts them confirms they can agree on the studio's behalf.

1. What we do

• We recruit players whose Steam libraries show hours in the games you name, invite them to your demo, and pay them for their sessions. Every player records their screen and voice while they play and think out loud, then answers a survey.
• We accept a session when the recording shows the demo being played and Steam playtime or your gameplay questions back it up. Sessions that don't show real play aren't counted.
• The report includes a summary of what players said, drawn from the transcripts, each accepted session's recording and transcript, the survey results, playtime, a PDF and a CSV. A test is delivered when its report is available to you on the site.
• We aim to deliver about a week after the test starts. That's a target, not a promise.

2. Fees and payment

• The price is shown before you pay. Single tests are paid by card through Stripe when setup is finished, and the test is booked once the payment goes through. Prices are in US dollars.
• The Quick Look is one per studio.
• Every test and plan is charged at its listed price. The only discounts are codes we give out: a code shows its amount before you pay, works once per studio, and on a plan comes off the first month only. Studio credit (for example, the unfilled share of a plan test) is used automatically at checkout, has no cash value, and expires on the date shown.
• You pay for the testing service. Steam Playtest keys are never part of the price: they stay yours and go to players free.

3. Monthly plans

• A plan is billed monthly and renews automatically at the price shown when you bought it, until you cancel.
• Cancel any time from Billing on your studio page. The plan keeps running to the end of the period you paid for, and fees for part of a period aren't refunded.
• Each paid month adds that plan's tests. Unused tests don't roll over: they lapse at the end of the month they were paid for.
• We email you at least 30 days before a price change.

4. Refunds

• If fewer players finish than you booked, you get the report with everyone who did and we refund the unfilled share to your card. The unfilled share is the price you paid divided by the players you booked, times the players who didn't finish.
• For a test from a plan, or paid with studio credit, we return the unfilled share as studio credit instead.
• If you cancel a booked test before we start inviting players, we refund it in full.
• After delivery, we don't refund a test unless we failed to deliver what this section and section 1 describe. Then we rerun it or refund it, your choice.
• Please write to us before disputing a charge with your bank.

5. Your build and your Playtest keys

• You confirm you have the right to hand out the build and the keys to players under your Steamworks agreement and Valve's rules.
• Give us Steam Playtest keys only, never keys for the full game. Each key goes to one invited player and is logged against their invitation. We never sell keys, and unused keys stay yours.
• You let us use the build, keys, store details and the notes and fact sheet you give us, only to run your test.
• Neither you nor we may reward players for wishlisting, following or reviewing any game, or ask them to.

6. Your Steamworks Web API key

• You appoint us as your service provider to hold your Steamworks Web API key and use it on your behalf only to: list the apps the key controls (to confirm the game is yours), check whether each invited player activated their key, and read how long they played your test app.
• Create the key for a permission group that holds only your test app. We store it encrypted, never share it, and delete it when you remove it on your studio page. Revoke it in Steamworks too when you're done.

7. Confidentiality

• Before seeing a key or demo link, each player accepts a confidentiality agreement for your test: no sharing the key or build, no streaming, and no screenshots, clips or posts. You can enforce that agreement against the player as well as us.
• We keep your build, keys, notes and test results confidential and use them only to run your test.
• We can't prevent every leak. If your game isn't announced, use a hidden Playtest.

8. Recordings, transcripts and the report

• The report is yours. Our survey questions, report format and software stay ours.
• We license each recording, transcript and player answer to you for internal product research and development of your game. That means people at your studio, and contractors working on the game under confidentiality, may use them.
• You watch recordings in your browser; they can't be downloaded. Don't screen-capture, re-record or copy them to get around that.
• Recordings and transcripts are deleted 90 days after the player uploads them.
• Don't publish or share recordings or transcripts outside your studio. Don't try to identify, find or contact any player, and don't use a recording to identify anyone by their voice.
• You may quote a player's written answer in your marketing only if you label it as coming from a paid playtester, and never present it as a review, on Steam or anywhere else.
• The summary is produced automatically and can be wrong. Check what matters against the recordings.

9. Player data

• We're responsible for player data under our privacy policy. You use what we give you only as these terms allow, keep it secure, and delete anything you copied from the report when you no longer need it.
• If a player asks us to delete their data, their recording and transcript may disappear from your report.

10. Our name and yours

We don't name your studio or game as a customer without your written permission.

11. No guarantees, and limits on liability

• We don't promise any result: not a number of wishlists, a review score, sales, or that players will like the game.
• As far as the law allows, neither side is liable to the other for indirect or lost-profit damages, and our total liability to you is limited to the fees you paid us in the 12 months before the claim.
• You cover us against claims that come from your build, your keys, or your use of recordings and player data outside these terms. We cover you against claims that our handling of player data broke the law.

12. Ending

• You can stop using Indie Jury any time. Sections 7 to 11 keep applying after that.
• We can refuse or stop a test that breaks these terms or Steam's rules, and refund the part that hasn't run.

13. Law and disputes

• These terms are governed by the laws of Minnesota.
• If there's a dispute, write to us first at hello@indiejury.com and we'll try to settle it within 30 days. If we can't, it goes to the state or federal courts in Hennepin County, Minnesota.

14. Changes

If we change these terms in a way that matters, we email the studio's billing contact at least 30 days before the change takes effect. Tests already booked keep the terms they were booked under.

Questions: hello@indiejury.com.