{"id":15020,"date":"2022-02-13T16:13:34","date_gmt":"2022-02-13T21:13:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-digit\/?post_type=hck-submission&p=15020"},"modified":"2022-02-13T16:14:59","modified_gmt":"2022-02-13T21:14:59","slug":"discord-your-place-to-talk","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/discord-your-place-to-talk\/","title":{"rendered":"Discord – Your Place to Talk"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

In March 2020, during the beginning of the pandemic, Discord changed it motto from \u201cChat for Gamers\u201d to \u201cChat for Communities and Friends\u201d (Curry, 2022). The new motto marked Discord\u2019s pandemic-enhanced transformation from a digital communication platform exclusively for gamers, to a digital communication platform for friends, communities, and businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Created in 2015 as a platform to facilitate communication amongst multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) gamers, Discord \u201cis a voice, video and text communication service used by over a hundred million people to hang out and talk with their friends and communities\u201d (Discord, 2022). Discord originally spun out of a MOBA game called Fates Forever<\/a>, released in 2014. The game, despite interest and acclaim from the gaming population, didn\u2019t catch on and ultimately shut down in 2015 (Viktor, 2022). Jason Citron, the co-founder and CEO of Discord said in a 2015 interview, \u201cWe could theorize about why a game didn\u2019t work, but at the end of the day, it didn\u2019t work,\u201d he said. \u201cMaking games is challenging. It\u2019s a combination of novelty, pop culture, and operations. It was a very emotionally difficult time\u201d (Takahasi, 2015). It was during the development of the game, however, that Jason and his team realized there was an unmet gaming market need: an all-in-one free voice communication chat app, or a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). While other voice communication application services existed on the market in 2015, such as Skype and Teamspeak, none of them provided consistent low-latency communication and high-security. Discord was able to meet this need by providing a delightful and playful application that offered gamers communication with minimal delays and internet protocol (IP) protection through distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) protection (Takahashi, 2015). Discord was also innovative through its use of private and public servers devoted to specific games (Geyser, 2021).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But how did a multiplayer mobile-gaming voice-communication platform become a leading digital communication platform for non-gaming communities and businesses across the globe? What has led to Discord\u2019s meteoric rise? In March 2019, when instant messenger users in the United States were asked \u201cWhich instant messenger or video call services do you use regularly?\u201d less than 1% said Discord (Statista Global Consumer Survey, 2015). As of March 2020, that number rose to 8%, and as of January 2022, that number rose to 13% (Statista Global Consumer Survey, 2022).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discord was already experiencing immense growth pre-pandemic, but as evidenced in the figure below from Geyser\u2019s 2021 article, the pandemic solidified Discord\u2019s status as a preferable digital communication platform. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In 2020, Discord was valued at around 7 billion, but \u201cin August 2021, Bloomberg reported that Dragoneer Investment Group was expected to lead an investment that would value Discord at around $15 billion\u201d (Geyser, 20210). Discord\u2019s immense growth pre-pandemic aligned with the \u201cgrowth of e-sports, through games like League of Legends, Overwatch and Fortnite, which all had rather limited communication tools\u201d (Curry, 2022). Discord was carving out its brand as the leading digital communication platform for gamers. Still, despite growth pre-pandemic, Discord remained a platform that served a niche, but growing, audience of online multiplayer gamers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the pandemic, however, Discord began to attract users beyond gaming. As Zendesk noted, \u201cDemand for Discord\u2019s service skyrocketed outside of gaming circles when much of the world began sheltering in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Virtual classes, book clubs, study groups, restaurateurs, and digital conventions are all using Discord to gather online\u201d (Zendesk, n.d.). Discord, in-addition to creating immense value during the pandemic, also began to capture more value through its freemium business model. Discord\u2019s revenue comes from three main offerings: Nitro (a premium subscription model that allows users share larger files, customize emojis, and enjoy better higher resolution streams), games sales and partnerships, and server boosting (which allows users to increase the quality of their server performance) (Viktor, 2022). As evidenced in the figure below, adapted from Campbell (2022), Discord\u2019s yearly revenue skyrocketed during the pandemic, increasing by roughly 300%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In June of 2020, during the midst of the pandemic, Jason Citron wrote an article entitled with their new tagline: Your place to talk<\/em>. He wrote, \u201c\u2026over the past year, we\u2019ve been asking you what really <\/em>makes the magic of Discord. It turns out that, for a lot of you, it wasn\u2019t just about video games anymore,\u201d he continued, \u201cToday, many of you use Discord for day-to-day communication. You\u2019re sharing thoughts about books, music, and art, creating servers to just be yourself and share moments with friends.\u201d He ended the piece writing, \u201cDiscord is your place to talk\u201d (Citron, 2020).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anonymous. (n.d.). MMOGames.com | Fates Forever. Retrieved February 13, 2022, from https:\/\/www.mmogames.com\/game\/fates-forever\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Campbell, S. (2022, February 12). Discord Statistics 2022: How Many People Use Discord? https:\/\/thesmallbusinessblog.net\/discord-statistics\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Citron, J. (2020, June 30). Your Place to Talk. https:\/\/discord.com\/blog\/your-place-to-talk<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Curry, D. (2022, January 11). Discord Revenue and Usage Statistics (2022). Business of Apps. https:\/\/www.businessofapps.com\/data\/discord-statistics\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Geyser, W. (2021, August 31). Discord Statistics: Revenue, Users & More. Influencer Marketing Hub. https:\/\/influencermarketinghub.com\/discord-stats\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Statista. (2022). Global Consumer Survey 2021 (p. 37). https:\/\/de.statista.com\/download\/Statista_Global_Consumer_Survey_Methodology_EN.pdf<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Takahasi, D. (2015, September 10). Hammer & Chisel pivots to voice comm app for multiplayer mobile games. VentureBeat. https:\/\/venturebeat.com\/2015\/09\/10\/hammer-chisel-pivots-to-voice-comm-app-for-multiplayer-mobile-games\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Viktor. (2022, January 19). The Discord Business Model \u2013 How Does Discord Make Money? https:\/\/productmint.com\/the-discord-business-model-how-does-discord-make-money\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Wise, J. (2022, January 25). Discord Statistics 2022: Valuation, Revenue & Users. \/\/earthweb.com\/discord-statistics\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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