Discord (software)

History

Developer Hammer & Chisel, now called Discord Inc, moved from supporting their mobile MOBA game Fates Forever to creating Discord in 2015, releasing in May. Gaining initial support and funding through YouWeb's 9+ incubator, the company then raised funding through Benchmark capital and Tencent. The developers aimed to create a program with low latency communication that incorporated what they considered as the best aspects of other VoIP software such as Skype and Teamspeak.

The service was popularized by eSports and LAN tournament gamers, including popular users on the Twitch.tv streaming service and game communities like that of Star Citizen. The company, which shares the same name as the service, was founded by OpenFeint founder Jason Citron, who intends to keep the company independent.

The company raised an additional $20 million USD in funding for the software in January 2016.

Software

Discord runs on Microsoft Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Linux, and in a web browser, which all support fundamental chat-based text features. The Discord application for personal computers is designed for use while gaming, including features such as low-latency, free voice chat servers for users and a dedicated server infrastructure. Discord's developers plan to add video calling and screen sharing. Direct calling was added in an update on July 28, 2016, with support for calls between two or more users. The company introduced its GameBridge API in December 2016 that allows game developers to directly support integration with Discord within games. The GIT Repository documentation for the Discord API is hosted on GitHub under Discord Api Docs

While the software itself comes at no cost, the developers investigated ways to monetize it, with potential options including paid customization options such as emoji or stickers. In January 2017, the first paid features were released with 'Discord Nitro'. For a monthly subscription fee users can get an animated avatar, use custom emojis across all servers, an increased maximum file size on file uploads (from 8 Megabytes to 50 Megabytes), and a unique profile badge.

Reception

By January 2016, Hammer & Chisel claimed that Discord had been used by 3 million people, with growth of 1 million per month, reaching 11 million users in July that year. As of December 2016, the company reports it had 25 million users worldwide. In May that year, one year after the software's release, Tom Marks, writing for PC Gamer, described Discord as the best VoIP service available.

Discord has had problems with hostile behaviour and abuse within chats, with some communities of chat servers being 'raided' by other communities. This includes flooding with provocative topics related to race, religion and politics.