Popular chatting application Discord is gearing up for expanding their social service into a digital distribution platform ala Steam, Uplay and Origin. A new beta of the client will be pushed out to 50,000 Canadian users who are subscribers of Discord Nitro and feature the new Discord Store.
The move to sell digital games on their platform might seem weird but for those who followed the most recent developments of Discord, this isn’t that outlandish of a surprise at all. Developers of Discord just recently added an extensive “Gaming Tab” to their chatting client with which users could start games directly and see what their friends were playing currently.
It kinda makes sense that the next step of “taking inspiration” by Steam et al. is the introduction of further gaming related functions. Discord is after all particularly popular among gamers and their effort to keep that audience closer tied to their platform is of paramount importance to the company.
What’s interesting about Discord’s newest effort however is not only offering the ability to purchase games through their own store but that there will be certain games which will release “First on Discord”. A certain timed-exclusivity which is not at all unknown in the gaming scene.
Furthermore, Eros Resmini, chief marketing officer at Discord explained to Variety that there will be titles available on their digital store which wouldn’t even exist without Discord. This allures to the idea that Discord is actively financing games to further promote their store. We aren’t talking about AAA blockbuster titles mind you, it’s indie games but nonetheless, the notion of Discord backing some games financially and getting timed exclusivity for others lets us believe that this new push towards establishing Discord as much more than just a chatting application is not taken lightly by the company.
Contrary to Steam however, Discord is not planning on letting every game on their digital shelves. The store will be curated and focus on newer titles and games that might have slipped under the radar. For the beta phase, no “First on Discord” titles will be available.
For the start, the launch of the store will feature following games for purchase:
- Dead Cells
- Frostpunk
- Omensight
- Into the Breach
- Spellforce 3
- The Banner Saga 3
- Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
- Hollow Knight, Moonlighter
- This is the Police 2
- Starbound
A solid list but remarkably heavy on indie games.
Nitro subscribers will receive the following 10 games for free.
- Saints Row: The Third,
- Metro: Last Light Redux
- Darksiders: Warmastered Edition
- De Blob, Tormentor X Punisher
- Dandara
- Kathy Rain
- GoNNER
- Kingdom: New Lands
- System Shock Enhanced Edition
- Super Meat Boy
We can’t help but be reminded by Twitch Prime’s free game offerings.
However Discord might develop in the future, it is fascinating to see more players pop up in the PC space, forcing even juggernaut Steam to react to the evolution of the PC gaming space.
You can learn much more about the Discord Store on their website.
