A couple of months ago, rumours that Discord was entertaining the idea of selling, be it wholly or only in part, to potentially interested parties, particularly an offer from Microsoft for $10B. Now, Sony invests a minority stake in Discord, and they plan on integrating it into their services by 2022.
Together, our teams are already hard at work connecting Discord with your social and gaming experience on PlayStation Network. 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.
Jim Ryan, President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment
He goes further and adds that the two companies are already working on the integration into the Playstation Network and mobile platforms.
When a company like Sony invests in Discord, there are only benefits to be had. First, they only purchased a minority stake so they don’t outright own it. This means that Xbox and Nintendo could possibly join them in the future.
Yes, that would be a stretch, but if Discord integrates well with the Playstation Network, it just might show the other two of the Big Three console companies the benefits of having a single purpose VOIP on their consoles. While they already have their own programs, one made by a company whose sole purpose is to do so will almost always be objectively better.
