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Warner Bros launches social game based upon Gossip Girl
MUMBAI: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announces the studio‘s expansion into social games with the launch of Gossip Girl: Social Climbing, a new game playable on Facebook.
Based on the television series Gossip Girl, the game is free and accessible for everyone to play.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment president Martin Tremblay said, “We recognize Facebook is a very important, growing platform for games, and for our first step in the space we have made a fun game for the hugely popular franchise Gossip Girl. Working with Warner Bros. Television, we are creating new categories of social games with built-in appeal to their extensive fan base.”
Warner Bros. Television Group CMO Lisa Gregorian said, “After four seasons, more than 80 episodes and close to eight million Facebook fans, Gossip Girl remains a pop culture phenomenon. Fans will relish the Gossip Girl: Social Climbing game play, where they earn rewards by attending virtual fashion shows, sample sales, club openings and classic events like the Assassin Party and Sweetheart Ball with their favorite characters, including Blair, Serena, Chuck and Nate. I just went to my closet and picked an outfit for tonight‘s Club Opening at Ransom”.
In Gossip Girl: Social Climbing, developed by Arkadium, fans can participate in the scandalous lives of privileged young adults in New York City. Players earn points to climb the social ladder of Manhattan‘s elite by attending events, being spotted with the right people and dressing in fashionable attire.
Gamers can accomplish social agenda missions such as attending parties with friends, flirting with a mysterious stranger, and unleashing one‘s wild side to get noticed by “You know who”- be careful though, push it too far and social climbers might get kicked out of the event. Players can also purchase in-game items to boost their progress and complete higher level missions.
The game can be found at http://www.facebook.com/gossipgirlsocialclimbing. Players can also access the game on the official Gossip Girl Facebook fan at http://www.facebook.com/GossipGirl as well as on the official CWTV website for Gossip Girl at http://www.cwtv.com/shows/gossip-girl.
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
