In some surprising news today, Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced it now has a minority investment in Discord, as part of a Series H funding round, and the service will be coming to PlayStation devices next year.
In a blog post by Jim Ryan, President & CEO of SIE outlined the plan for the service in the future.
“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.”
PlayStation devices already have a native voice chat and messaging service, so how Discord fits alongside that is unknown as of this stage. Especially on PS5, the voice quality and Party Chat options are superlative when compare to the previous console generations.
However, Discord is more than that, allowing communities to conversate via text posts, something which is lacking on PlayStation at present. During the PS4 era, there was the Communities service, but that died out when the PS5 arrived. Discord could certainly take its place via the PlayStation app.
This move also shows Sony’s willingness to invest and build upon its PlayStation service and much like its recent investments in Epic, this is more of a partnership than a takeover. This follows the news that Microsoft takeover talks recently came to nought.
Discord is a popular service, particularly in PC gaming circles, used by fans, developers and PR teams alike. It currently has 140 million active monthly users.
As and when new elements of the service get rolled out, we’ll keep you updated. Be sure to stay tuned to our social media for the opportunity to be invited to our private Discord soon.
