China’s National People’s Congress has passed the Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL), to protect the data privacy of Chinese citizens. It is effective starting November 1st, 2021 and requires players in China to provide Opt-In consent to their data being collected and Opt-In consent to their data being stored outside of China.
In order to comply with this legislation Unity must block data collection from players in China until they provide their consent to both opt-ins. This means that from October 29th, 2021 data from players in China will cease to be processed. Analytics reporting and player engagement systems reliant on data will not be available for players in China.
The deltaDNA SDK for Unity, iOS and Android native SDKs will continue to function, but data collected will not be sent outside of China or processed, it will be deleted within China. Default event collection and engagement functions within the SDK are asynchronous and non-blocking. If you have implemented your own synchronous code or rely on remote engagement parameters for your game to function correctly, you will want to review and update your SDK implementation accordingly.
New deltaDNA SDKs for Unity, iOS and Android, containing functionality to communicate the player’s consent to both opt-ins will be made available. As a developer, you will need to update the SDK in your game and implement a consent flow for players in China in order to resume data collection for players in China. Further details and code examples will be provided with the new SDKs.
deltaDNA FAQ
Why has my Analytics reporting changed?
From October 29th, 2021 data from players in China will not be included in your analytics reporting, it will be deleted before leaving China. You will need to update your game to use the new SDK and implement a PIPL consent workflow for players in China.
I don’t use a deltaDNA SDK, I use the REST API?
If you are posting data to the REST API for players in China you will be required to seek consent on both opt-ins and set 2 headers in each POST to confirm the player’s consent. Any data received from China without these headers will be rejected.
| Header | Description |
| PIPL_CONSENT | The presence of this header will indicate the player has granted consent to data collection. Players who do not consent should not have this header set on requests. The value of the header does not matter. |
| PIPL_EXPORT | The presence of this header will indicate the player has granted consent to their data being sent out of China for processing. Players who do not consent should not have this header set on requests. The value of the header does not matter. |
My game isn’t published in China?
Even if your game isn’t published in China you may have players from China playing your game because they have side-loaded it from an unofficial source. These players will cease to appear in your analytics reporting after October 29th, 2021.
Will this break my game?
No, it shouldn’t. The default event collection and engagement functions within the SDK are asynchronous and non-blocking. However, if you have implemented your own synchronous code or rely on remote engagement parameters for your game to function you will want to review and update your SDK implementation accordingly.
Can I still use the deltaDNA SDK to enable Unity Ads Audience Pinpointer campaigns?
If you have configured your game to pass specific in-game events (unitySignallInstall, unitySignalSession, and unitySignalPurchase) to enable Audience Pinpointer user acquisition campaigns, you will need to update your game to use the new SDK and implement a PIPL consent workflow to continue running these user acquisition campaigns in China. Only data from players who have provided consent to both opt-ins will be used to power Audience Pinpointer targeting.
What do I need to do?
You will need to:
- Download and integrate the new deltaDNA SDK containing PIPL functionality
- Implement your own PIPL workflow to request Opt-In consent to collect player data and Opt-in consent to store that data outside of China.
- Start the deltaDNA SDK providing the consent values provided by the player.
Only if the player has provided consent to both opt-ins will their player data be recorded and appear in your Analytics reporting.
Where can I get the new SDK?
The new deltaDNA SDKs with PIPL functionality will be available on the deltaDNA GitHub repository from approx 5th November 2021.
