Discord started out as a platform for gamers to communicate with one another, and has been growing in popularity over the last five years. Now, the company wants to branch out and market itself to a wider demographic. The question is, what will this mean for gamers? Will the platform still be the same tool they have grown accustomed to, or will it become less geared towards games?
Discord is Expanding Beyond Gaming
The success of discord has been nothing short of astonishing. In a short space of time, it has grown its user base to more than 250 million people. The instant messaging and VoIP platform has become one of the number one choices for gamers who need to keep in contact with their teammates. Its notoriety grew so quickly because the company was connected to a vast number of influential Twitch streamers, who helped spread the word about it.
Now that Discord has become world-famous, its creators are obviously looking at ways to expand and corner a bigger market. In order to do this, they have decided to rebrand. Until 2020, the software was specifically designed for gamers, and it used the language of these online communities. Now, the motto has changed to one that targets a much broader spectrum of friends and families.
Discord announced that it was moving its focus away from gaming, and towards being a more expansive online networking tool. It appears that it is looking to go into direct competition with major social networking sites as an alternative to what they have to offer.
Still The Perfect Solution For Gamers
The fact that Discord has branched out away from solely focusing on gaming shouldn’t deter gamers, though. The man who invented Discord, Jason Citron, is known for being a gamer himself and is unlikely to distance his company fully from what made it so successful in the first place. Citron actually came up with the concept of the communication platform as a reliable means of contacting his Final Fantasy XIV and League of Legends companions, and it still works for this purpose.
Indeed, any players who haven’t already used Discord as a means of improving their online communications with fellow players should try it out. There are clear instructions online about how to set up a Discord server, although the process is a rather simple one. The app is easy to navigate and it only takes a minute to create. Once you have set up a server, you can invite your gamer buddies and use it as a way to keep in touch when playing games. It is reliable, and a lot of players swear by it.
The fact that Discord has expanded beyond games shouldn’t deter players from using it. It still serves exactly the same purpose as it has always done, and that is to give gamers a means of communicating with one another easily. The fact that it is growing means that more people will become aware of it, which should mean a greater number of gamers will be on it too.