Microsoft are Eyeing Up Another Name in Tech
Discord has gone from strength to strength, becoming, arguably, the communication channel for gamers. Streamers use Discord to connect with their fans or negotiate streams, and the chat functionality allows players to communicate while partying up – even across platforms, when playing games that don’t allow for inter-platform chat – like Final Fantasy XIV.
Now, it looks like Microsoft have recognised Discord’s place in the market, with Bloomberg reporting that they offered of a whopping $10,000,000,000 for the program. This comes after Venturebeat reported that several buyers were interested in purchasing Discord.
It makes sense that these offers are coming now, despite Discord being available for five years at this point, because the ongoing Coronavirus epidemic has drastically changed how we approach a lot of things, such as communication, with programs such as Zoom and, well, Discord gaining a lot of attention for their ability to let people communicate with each other in groups. Another thing that’s made big business? Gaming. Not only was 2020 arguably the greatest year in the history of the industry in terms of releases, but the industry managed to break records, earning $11,200,000,000 in the third quarter – an increase of 24% over the same period in 2019. Considering how big the streaming and online gaming communities have gotten, it’s no wonder that so many buyers are interested in Discord, which is both an established name in the market and one that has become the most popular service for allowing gamers to communicate with one another.
The bad news? With over 250,000,000 users online, not everyone is going to be happy with Microsoft’s acquisition of the service (if it goes through), and we don’t know whether the tech giant plan to make any changes along the way.