Group-chat platform Discord reportedly turned down a $12 billion acquisition bid from Microsoft.
Discord CEO Jason Citron talked with Insider about the platform s path forward.
From expanding audio features to new options for monetization,
we re very focused on the future, he said.
Discord had quite the year. In 2020, the group-chatting platform doubled its members, tripled its revenue, and expanded its usership well beyond its original gamer crowd.
It s no wonder Microsoft reportedly offered $12 billion to buy it. Just don t expect Discord CEO Jason Citron to spill any details. We received numerous offers, but, you know, are under strict NDA, so I can t comment on anything specific, Citron told Insider.
Discord’s new Stage Discovery portal will connect live audio events with communities
If you’re new to Discord, you might be thrown off by the lack of an endless feed peppered with ads. On Discord, all of the action happens in interest-specific servers, and the company wants to make it easier for anyone to stumble across and plunge into those communities.
The company launched Stage Channels, its own Clubhouse-like voice event rooms, in late March. With those building blocks in place, in June Discord will start surfacing events (think open mic nights, book clubs, etc.) through a new portal called Stage Discovery, adding a way for anybody to connect with the cool communities in the process.
Discord shows off Stages discoverability features, push for inclusivity ); }
Today online communications platform Discord rolled out a new set of features and company strategy showcasing a new (but familiar) direction after a year of pandemic-adjacent growth.
In a press conference held on Discord earlier this week, CEO and co-founder Jason Citron and colleagues used the new “Stage Channels” feature to announce the tweaked direction. The company reported that as of 2021, 78 percent of Discord users reported using the platform for non-game purposes, hosting communities based on gardening, book clubs, comedy clubs and more.
(Some context: Discord does say that number is a combination of users who say they use it exclusively for non-game purposes, and users who use it equally for gaming and non-game purposes.)
Sony and Discord have announced a new partnership. With the companies working more closely with an eye to launching integrated services from the beginning of next year.
The exact nature of the collaboration isn’t clear, but Jim Ryan said: “Our goal is to bring the Discord and PlayStation experiences closer together on console and mobile starting early next year, allowing friends, groups, and communities to hang out, have fun, and communicate more easily while playing games together.”
That seems to suggest that players will be able to easily use Discord to communicate, while playing games on PlayStation, and hopefully that would include cross-platform titles. Discord already has (since 2018) had limited integration on Xbox, such as showing your Discord friends what games you’re playing, but stops short of allowing Discord voice chat on the console.