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Hungama partners Imade for UGC in casual games
MUMBAI: Hungama Game Studio, a part of Hungama Digital Media, has partnered with Imade Games for user generated content in casual games.
Developed by leading game developers Castletown Corporatio, this partnership will provide the Imade games on the soon to be launched Hungama gaming platform.
The games will be available November onwards on the websites of the Hungama networks.
Hungama Game Studio, which has developed over 400 games in the last four years, will through this partnership offer players the option of personalising all aspects of their game and allow them to further share it with friends.
The games can also be shared with friends and family via social networking sites.
The Imade games can be integrated to various game portals through Iframe. This plugs into the game portals API or Web service for identifying user of the game portals.
Consumer Business & Allied Services of Hungama Digital Media Entertainment COO Siddhartha Roy says, “We believe that User Generated Content is the future, with consumers becoming more and more net and tech savvy. The Imade tie up is a step in the right direction as it will help all our consumers create and share content amongst each other.
This will also add to the large portfolio of games on our site.”
Adds SkillPod leading shareholder and CEO Mark Van Diggelin, “This is a great opportunity to expand our global reach and monetize existing assets at minimal cost. We see the exploitation of UGC as a key to unlock additional traffic through greater involvement of game fans everywhere. We know our games are already very popular and we continue to develop new winners, but now we can see them adopted by users across the world to create their own personal versions or branded games to support commercial campaigns, thus opening up our products to whole new groups of internet clients.”
Castletown Corporation recently announced its partnership with world leading games portal Skillpod Media (PTY) Ltd of South Africa, whereby 300 of its leading games will be converted to Imade format in the next 12 months.
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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.
