Discord is looking to rival Steam as the go-to PC games platform. Already, the service is more than a rival for Steam when it comes to chat functionality. Discord wants to step up its game, however because, for Discord, being one of the leading chat platforms isn’t good enough. The company announced today that it will be selling games in the near future via a Discord game store. The move will begin with a beta reserved for 50,000 random Canadian Nitro subscribers.
Canadian subscribers of the Discord Nitro program will be the first in the world to be granted access to the ability to buy games directly from Discord. The first games available for purchase will be Hollow Knight, Metro Last Light Redux, Saints Row The Third, Starbound, and Super Meat Boy. Unlike Steam, which appears to be a veritable free-for-all for publishers and users alike, Discord aims to handpick its games.
The company wants to build a quality list of available games, and is even planning on having timed exclusives. Indeed, these “First on Discord” games will be available exclusively on Discord for 90 days. There will even be a “Universal Library”, which will allow users to play any of their PC games through Discord, without the need for a different launcher. Essentially, you’ll be able to play your Steam games through Discord, without the need to login to Steam.
Discord’s store will be lead “more by friendships and playing together” rather “than what is currently available in the ecosystem.” Eros Resmini (Discord CMO) explains to The Verge. A brilliant touch is that players on Discord will be able to play their games with friends, no matter where they bought their games:
“Our goal with Discord is to bring players together – never to fragment or add friction to gaming friends. Discord has become a home for many gamers who use it to connect with friends multiple times a day — some people seem to live on Discord. With 150 million registered users that’s a lot of building friendships while talking about and playing games together.”
The Discord game store will be available for free to everyone. Additionally, Nitro subscription holders will be granted access to a separate library of Discord curated games.
