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Reliance Big Entertainment acquires 50% of UK’s Codemasters
MUMBAI: Reliance Big Entertainment (RBEL), part of the Reliance ADA group, has acquired a 50 per cent stake in the British video games developer and publisher company Codemasters for an undisclosed amount.
Balderton Capital, the European venture capital firm, holds the remaining 50 per cent in the games company behind Lord of the Rings Online, Colin McRae Rally and Formula One.
Zapak Digital Entertainment, the gaming division of RBEL, will oversee the investment in Codemasters.
With this acquisition, Zapak will get an international foothold in the US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, and Benelux.
Says Zapak CEO Rohit Sharma, “We are excited to partner with Codemasters and believe its very strong technology, development and distribution presence will complement our global gaming portfolio. Additionally, Zapak‘s global strength in mobile gaming will enhance Codemasters‘ ability to fully leverage its attractive franchises such as its racing and cricket games.”
Adds Codemasters CEO Rod Cousens, “The opportunities arising from this partnership are truly exciting. This is great news for our development and publishing teams. Reliance and Zapak have immense resources and will help us realise the full potential of our game coding and online excellence across so many platforms, and especially in the world‘s fastest growing markets.”
Codemasters, a 21-year-old company, has annual revenues in excess of $150 million and has franchises in cricket games (The Ashes), racing games (Formula 1, Dirt2 and Race Driver Grid), performance games (Dance Factory) and military simulations (Operation Flashpoint 2). It employees over 450 people worldwide.
Zapak is one of the largest gaming companies in India, with interests in online casual games, massively multiplayer online games (MMOG) publishing, chain of gaming cafes and physical distribution of gaming software.
Zapak also controls Jump Games, an international mobile game development and publishing company with global distribution across Asia, Europe, North America, and South America.
Zapak works closely with most of the leading global gaming and entertainment players such as EA, Microsoft, Valve, Popcap, Boonty, Payfirst, Disney, Universal Studioa, Shanda, Jagex, Cartoon Network, THQ, iPlay and Hands-On.
Indian gaming companies are trying to build scale and grow inorganically as they covet a footprint outside India in the main consumption markets of the world.
Two years back, UTV Software Communications had made investments in Ignition (console games), True Games (online games) and Indiagames (mobile games).
Says UTV Group CFO Rajeev Wagle, “This acquisition by Reliance is great news for the gaming industry. Asia is growing to be a strong player in gaming consumption and development and it is high time that Indian corporates explore this space. UTV pioneered this two years back with its acquisitions and is working on developing IP’s for each of the platforms.”
UTV is set to release its first online title in the first-quarter of this fiscal and its first console title by Christmas this year, making it a global player in this space.
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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.
