The popular online VoIP service Discord is partnering with PlayStation, as confirmed by an official announcement.
The partnership means that Discord’s communication services will be integrated with PlayStation’s social experience. The announcement was shared via the official PlayStation Twitter account, accompanied by a statement by Sony’s CEO, Jim Ryan:
“At PlayStation, we’re constantly looking for new ways to enable players around the world to connect with one another, form new friendships and communities, and share fun experiences and lasting memories. It’s in this spirit that we’re excited to announce a new partnership with Discord, the communication service popularized by gamers and used by more than 140 million people every month around the world.”
Ryan also disclosed that Sony has made a minority investment in Discord as part of its H series round. The Sony boss expressed his excitement to work with Discord’s co-founders, Jason Citron and Stan Vishnevskiy:
“From our very first conversation with co-founders Jason Citron and Stan Vishnevskiy, I was inspired by their lifelong love for gaming and our teams’ shared passion to help bring friends and communities together in new ways. Empowering players to create communities and enjoy shared gaming experiences is at the heart of what we do, so we are beyond excited to start this journey with one of the world’s most popular communication services.”
While we don’t currently have a go-live date for PlayStation’s Discord integration, we’ll hopefully get an additional update soon. The news also follows a failed bid by Microsoft to acquire the chat platform for $12 billion [via Bloomberg].
It’s worth noting that Xbox consoles have had integrated Discord features for a while now, so Sony’s minority investment isn’t necessarily part of a complete acquisition. Nevertheless, the PlayStation partnership could develop further down the line, so it’s best not to write anything off just yet!
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Featured Image Credit: Sony/Discord