Affiliate Disclosure

That's the disclosure. Everything below is the detail, because I think you're entitled to understand exactly how a site that recommends products makes its money.

What an affiliate link actually is

An affiliate link is a normal link with a tracking identifier attached. When you click it and then buy something, the retailer knows the referral came from GameKyn and pays a small percentage of the sale as a commission.

Three things that are true and worth stating plainly:

• You never pay more. The commission comes out of the retailer's margin, not out of your pocket. The price is identical whether you use my link or type the address yourself.
• I don't see your personal information. I receive aggregate reporting — clicks and conversions. Not your name, address, payment details, or what else was in your basket.
• You're never obliged to use them. If you'd rather go direct, please do. The article is the same either way.

Where the links are

Affiliate links appear in:

• Buying guides — hardware, peripherals, and services
• Game reviews, where I link to a storefront for a game I'm recommending
• Clearly marked recommendation boxes within articles

Every article containing them carries a disclosure banner near the top, before you read any recommendation. Affiliate links are also marked with rel="nofollow sponsored" in the page source, which is the standard technical signal for this.

Articles with no affiliate links — most of the opinion and analysis pieces — carry no banner. If you don't see one, there's nothing to disclose.

Programs and partners

GameKyn participates in affiliate programs operated by online retailers, digital game storefronts, hardware manufacturers, and software companies whose products are relevant to gaming.

Commission rates vary substantially between categories. To be completely transparent about the incentive structure: hardware and peripherals pay a modest percentage; digital game sales pay very little; software subscriptions such as VPN services pay considerably more than either.

I'm telling you this because knowing where the money is helps you read critically. It's also why my VPN guide — the highest-commission article on this site — opens by explaining that most readers don't need a VPN at all, and includes a recommendation for a provider that has no affiliate program whatsoever.

The rules I hold myself to

An affiliate model creates a real pressure to recommend more things, more enthusiastically, more often. Pretending that pressure doesn't exist is how sites quietly become catalogues. Here's how I manage it:

1. The assessment comes first

I write what I think about a product before considering whether a link exists. If the honest conclusion is "don't buy this," that's what gets published — and several articles here do exactly that.

2. Commission rate never determines a recommendation

If a lower-paying option is the better product, the lower-paying option gets recommended. If the best answer is "you don't need this," that's the answer, even though it earns nothing.

3. I only link to things I'd genuinely suggest

No links to products I haven't used, researched properly, or wouldn't recommend to a friend in the same situation.

4. No paid placements dressed up as editorial

Nobody can buy a position, a score, or a mention on this site. If sponsored content ever appears here, it will be labelled unmistakably as sponsored, at the top, in a way you cannot miss.

5. Review copies are disclosed

If a publisher or manufacturer provides a game or product for review, the article says so. Access is never accepted with conditions attached — no approval over content, no embargo on criticism, no guaranteed coverage.

6. Negative coverage is not off-limits

Being in an affiliate program with a retailer has no bearing on whether I criticize a product they sell. If that ever became a problem for a partner, I'd leave the program rather than soften an article.

FTC compliance

This disclosure is provided in accordance with the United States Federal Trade Commission's Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (16 CFR Part 255), which require clear and conspicuous disclosure of material connections between a publisher and the products it recommends.

In practice that means:

• Disclosure appears before any affiliate link, not buried in a footer
• Disclosure appears on every article containing affiliate links, not only on this page
• Language is plain and unambiguous — no vague phrases like "we may be compensated" without explanation
• Disclosure is visible on mobile without expanding, tapping, or scrolling past the recommendation

If you ever find an affiliate link on this site without a corresponding disclosure, that's a mistake and I want to know about it. Email hello@gamekyn.com and I'll fix it.

Cookies from affiliate links

When you click an affiliate link, the partner network may set a cookie in your browser to attribute a subsequent purchase. These cookies typically expire after a set window — anywhere from 24 hours to 30 days depending on the program.

You can block or clear these cookies at any time through your browser settings, and the site will function exactly as normal. Full details are in the Privacy Policy.

What affiliate revenue pays for

GameKyn is one person. Affiliate revenue covers hosting, the domain, buying games and hardware I write about, and the time spent actually playing them properly rather than skimming a press kit.

The alternative funding models available to a small site are worse. Display advertising would mean cluttering pages with intrusive units and handing your data to ad networks. A paywall would mean fewer people read the buying advice that's meant to save them money. Sponsored content would mean writing what someone else wanted written.

Affiliate links, disclosed honestly and used carefully, are the least compromised option I've found. But it only works if you can trust the recommendations — which is why the rules above matter more to me than any individual commission.

Questions

If you want to know whether a specific link is affiliate, whether a product was provided for review, or how a particular recommendation was reached — just ask. I'll tell you.

hello@gamekyn.com