Game chatting app Discord planning to open their own game storefront
With over 130 million registered users, the online chatting program Discord is currently one of the most popular ways for gamers to casually communicate with each other. It also appears that the team behind the program, Hammer and Chisel, are looking to achieve even greater heights, as there's a new beta which will be available later today. This new update brings about a Store tab on the Discord startup page, and is planned to be a brand new storefront for users to buy games from. Titles from major publishers like THQ Nordic are available, as well as a multitude of indie games. For those that pay the fee for Discord Nitro ($4.99 a month, or $49.99 a year), they'll have access to a handful of games each month, not entirely dissimilar to the likes of PlayStation Plus or Xbox Live. When the service goes live, Nitro users will receive Saints Row: The Third, Metro: Last Light Redux, and Darksiders: Warmastered Edition.
Not only is the storefront major news, but Discord will also be starting up an exclusive funding program. If an indie developer agrees to publish their title on Discord exclusively first, for a minimum of 90 days, the company will help them cover some of the costs of development.
This new addition might make waves, as the current controversies around Steam in regards to adult games, or taking an incredibly lax stance on curation, or Fallout 76 skipping Steam, have some users questioning their support of Valve, and a new alternative could create competition. As of right now, the new Discord beta will only be available to select Canadian Discord Nitro users, where it will then roll out to all users at a later date.
Source: Discord
