Discord, the app that many gamers use for voice chat, community building, memes and more, is moving away from gaming. With a rebrand that is focusing on all different groups of people, Discord isn’t just for gamers.
Discord had originally started in 2015 among other platforms like TeamSpeak and Skype. These were the two main platforms for “game chat” outside of games. Since Discord’s introduction to the scene, it has grown by over 100 million users with over 6 million different communities. Discord, of course, is looking to capitalize on all of these different communities since they can’t all be for gaming. That isn’t to say that gamers will be excluded in their movement toward the future.
What’s New?
The new rebrand focuses on the new tagline: “Your Place To Talk”. What does this mean exactly? According to the Discord Blog: “Many of you told us that the biggest misconception you hear about Discord is that it’s “only for gaming,” but you feel Discord’s for “literally everyone” and “for anyone who likes to talk.” Essentially, Discord is going to make the platform easier for non-gamers to get into. The changes that will be integrated in the near future are templates for communities, more accessible video chat and bug fixes.
These changes are beneficial, but the reason that they are coming about, in my opinion, is directly related to the funding round that was completed the same day as the rebrand was announced. The platform received a $100 million investment in a round of funding led by Index Ventures. With this new funding, investors are most likely looking to expand the platform to become as profitable as possible. It’s no surprise that with this in mind, Discord will look to expand its user base. Templates will definitely be a benefit to new users, as creating a whole new server can be a pain. These changes do look to be better for all users of the platform, but hopefully the gaming aspect won’t be left behind in this new venture.
