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Disney acquires mobile gaming company Tapulous
MUMBAI: Media conglomerate Disney has announced the acquisition of Palo Alto-based Tapulous, a developer of music games for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch.
As a part of Disney‘s mobile games group, Tapulous strengthens the company’s portfolio of games and entertainment offerings in the fast-growing mobile arena. Through this deal, Tapulous founders, Bart Decrem and Andrew Lacy, as well as their development team in Palo Alto, California, will be joining DIMG’s mobile content group.
Decrem and Lacy, previously CEO and COO of Tapulous, will now take on the leadership roles for the Disney mobile group with Decrem reporting to Disney president Steve Wadsworth.
Wadsworth says, “Mobile gaming is seeing unprecedented growth and this is the right time to invest to strengthen our position in the mobile business. In a short time, Bart and Andrew have built Tapulous into a successful and accomplished mobile games developer that’s emerged as one of the most successful companies in the industry. We welcome the Tapulous team to the Disney family and look forward to integrating their popular games into Disney’s offerings.”
Disney says that it has enjoyed many successes in its mobile business counting several “platinum” performing apps with more than one million downloads including Disney’s Alice in Wonderland Lite, Fairies Fly Lite and JellyCar 2, which is Disney’s most successful premium game in the app store to date.
In addition, DIMG creates and delivers unique mobile content and manages a Disney-branded mobile phone service in Japan in association with Softbank.
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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.
