Discord is quickly becoming one of the most popular social platforms, especially among younger generations. Originally known for its role in gaming, it has expanded into a wider community tool, offering diverse features that attract a range of users. Recently, Discord has gained significant attention in the tech world, with companies like Midjourney and OpenAI using it to showcase their AI products. Even Google’s internal documents were leaked via Discord groups.
Despite its growth, Discord still manages to maintain its niche identity. It has become a favorite social tool not only for gamers but also for people in various communities. In fact, its success is evident in the fact that Microsoft, a tech giant, offered $12 billion to acquire Discord. However, the company turned down the offer, choosing to stay independent for the time being. This move speaks volumes about the platform’s confidence in its ability to continue growing and adapting to new user needs.
Discord was created in 2015 by two gaming enthusiasts, Jason Citron and Stan Vishnevskiy. Both founders were passionate gamers who spent hours playing online multiplayer games. They noticed a common problem: existing communication tools were not designed for gamers. Platforms like Skype and TeamSpeak were the main options at the time, but they had major flaws. Skype often had call quality issues, delays, and connection drops. TeamSpeak was complicated to set up and lacked features gamers wanted.
Citron and Vishnevskiy wanted to build a tool specifically for gamers. They aimed to create a platform that was easy to use, reliable, and made communication seamless during gaming. Discord became the answer. It provided crystal-clear voice quality and low-latency connections, which were essential for competitive gaming. Players could focus on the game without worrying about connection interruptions.
Discord also introduced innovative features. One of the most important was its “always-on” chat rooms. Players could join or leave voice chats without disrupting the group. Even if someone’s game crashed, their voice chat stayed connected. This feature stood out because it solved a frequent problem for gamers.
By focusing on these needs, Discord quickly gained traction among gamers. Within its first year, the platform had over 25 million registered users. It grew into one of the most reliable tools for online gaming communication, outperforming older platforms like Skype. This innovation helped Discord expand its user base rapidly, setting the stage for its transformation into a broader social platform.
Breaking into the Mainstream: Discord’s Rise Among Gen Z and Investor Interest
Discord’s user base grew rapidly as it moved beyond gaming communities. By 2018, students and younger users had started using the platform for more than gaming. They formed study groups, club chats, and hobby communities. According to Statista, over 60% of Discord’s users in the United States are under the age of 25. This makes it especially popular among Gen Z, who prefer platforms that offer privacy and flexible communication.
Unlike platforms like Facebook or TikTok, Discord has no public news feed or algorithm-driven recommendations. Instead, it allows users to join private or semi-private servers. This gives users more control over who they interact with and how they communicate. For example, students can create small, private servers for class projects, while larger communities can form public servers around shared interests like art, music, or technology. This balance between privacy and openness has been key to Discord’s appeal.
Investors quickly noticed Discord’s growth. In 2021, Microsoft offered $12 billion to acquire Discord, but the company declined the offer. Other tech giants like Amazon and Epic Games have also shown interest. Some reports, such as one from Bloomberg, suggest that offers for Discord have gone over $10 billion. The high interest reflects Discord’s potential to become a dominant communication platform, especially as it continues to attract a younger, engaged audience.
Despite these offers, Discord has chosen to remain independent. The company believes it can grow further without being tied to a larger corporation. Its decision also shows confidence in its ability to build a sustainable business model while maintaining its unique user experience.
Discord is a popular communication platform, mainly used by gamers, but also increasingly adopted for various other communities. It offers voice, video, and text communication, and it’s easy to set up. Here’s how you can register and start using Discord in 2024.
To get started with Discord, you need to create an account. Here's how:
After you sign up and log in, you’ll want to set up your profile to personalize your experience.
Discord thrives on community engagement. To make the most of it, you’ll want to join servers.
Discord supports several forms of communication.
Discord offers a premium subscription called Discord Nitro. While not necessary for basic usage, Nitro provides additional features.
While Discord is a fun and interactive platform, it’s important to stay safe online.
Discord has always prioritized user experience over profit generation. Unlike platforms like Facebook or TikTok, Discord does not display advertisements. The founders, Jason Citron and Stan Vishnevskiy, believe ads would disrupt user interactions and reduce the platform’s appeal. This ad-free approach has earned Discord a loyal user base but also created significant revenue challenges. Without ad income, Discord must rely on other ways to fund its operations and support its growing infrastructure.
Discord’s primary revenue source is Discord Nitro, a subscription service priced at $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year. Nitro offers premium features such as animated emojis, higher-quality video and audio, larger file upload limits, and customizable server settings. These enhancements appeal to power users, community managers, and gamers who spend significant time on the platform. According to businessofapps, Discord generated approximately $310 million in revenue in 2021. While this is an impressive figure for a platform without ads, it pales in comparison to the billions generated by ad-supported platforms.
Despite its popularity, Nitro is not essential for all users. The free version of Discord provides most core features, including voice, video, and text chat. As a result, the adoption rate for Nitro remains relatively low compared to Discord’s overall user base, which reached 150 million monthly active users in 2021 (Statista). This creates a revenue bottleneck, as only a fraction of users are paying subscribers.
Discord has experimented with other revenue models, though not all have been successful. In 2018, the company launched the Discord Store, a marketplace for selling games. The store aimed to compete with platforms like Steam by offering developers an 88% revenue share, better than Steam’s 70/30 split. However, the store failed to attract a substantial audience. Most users preferred to use Discord for chatting and community building rather than purchasing games. By 2019, the Discord Store was shut down, marking a significant setback in the company’s efforts to diversify its income streams.
Discord also tried offering direct game subscriptions through Nitro, bundling a library of games with its premium plan. However, this approach didn’t gain traction either, as users preferred to access games on dedicated platforms like Steam or Epic Games. The feature was discontinued in 2019, further highlighting the difficulty of monetizing outside of its core functionality.
Despite these struggles, Discord is exploring new ways to generate revenue. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the platform saw a surge in non-gaming users. Teachers, students, and professionals started using Discord for virtual classrooms, study groups, and team collaboration. To cater to this audience, Discord introduced features like video conferencing, screen sharing, and enhanced server management tools. These additions could potentially unlock new revenue streams from educational institutions and businesses.
However, challenges remain. Discord’s reliance on Nitro subscriptions limits its scalability, and its rejection of ads narrows its financial options. While the platform’s $15 billion valuation (Crunchbase) reflects investor confidence, the lack of diverse income sources raises questions about its ability to maintain long-term growth without external funding.
In summary, Discord’s profitability challenge lies in balancing user experience with sustainable revenue. Its commitment to remaining ad-free has earned it a devoted user base, but this strategy also limits its financial flexibility. As Discord continues to innovate, the question remains: can it find a way to monetize effectively without compromising its core values?
One of the main reasons Discord stands out from other platforms is its focus on communication and creating a community-driven environment. From its early days, Discord was designed to provide gamers with a better voice chat experience during gameplay. Unlike other platforms, such as Skype or TeamSpeak, Discord offered low-latency, high-quality voice chat that allowed players to communicate clearly without disruptions. Today, this high-quality communication still sets Discord apart.
Discord has built a reputation for making conversations simple and seamless. With features like voice channels, text channels, and video chats, users can easily switch between different forms of communication, depending on their needs. The platform allows for flexible communication, whether users are chatting casually, collaborating on projects, or organizing large events. This makes Discord suitable for more than just gamers. Creators, educators, and businesses now use Discord to build communities and engage with their audience.
Another key element of Discord’s unique user experience is its customization options. Users can personalize their profiles with avatars, custom emojis, and status updates. Server owners also have full control over their communities. They can set up roles, permissions, and moderation tools to create the desired atmosphere for their server. This level of control helps build a sense of ownership and community among members.
In 2024, Discord has continued to enhance its customization features. The "Server Boost" system, where users can pay to improve the quality of their server, lets communities tailor their experience further. This could mean adding higher-quality audio for voice chats, more emoji slots, or even custom server banners. These features appeal to a wide range of users, from casual hobbyists to professional creators.
Discord’s Activities feature, which allows users to play games and participate in activities together within a voice channel, is another example of how Discord creates a unique experience. Since its launch in 2022, Activities has enabled users to share in real-time experiences, whether it’s watching a movie together, playing a trivia game, or enjoying simple games like Pictionary. In 2024, Discord took it a step further by introducing Embedded App SDKs, allowing developers to create mini-games and apps directly inside Discord servers. This shift makes Discord more than just a communication tool; it has become an interactive hub for social experiences.
Additionally, Discord continues to improve its video and streaming features. The platform supports HD video calls and screen sharing, giving users high-quality options for connecting with others. Creators can also live stream to their audience, making it easy to engage and interact with fans in real time. These tools help maintain a high level of engagement between creators and their communities.
Discord's free access model is another factor that contributes to its widespread use and unique user experience. While Discord offers premium Nitro subscriptions, the core features, such as voice chat, text channels, and community creation, are all available for free. This makes Discord very appealing to a broad range of users, from gamers to small businesses to educational groups. This low barrier to entry helps attract new users and expand its diverse user base.
The accessibility of the platform has also led to significant user growth. In 2021, Discord reached 150 million active users monthly, and the numbers have only continued to rise in the years since (Statista). With a simple sign-up process and a clear user interface, Discord provides a low-friction experience for people to join, communicate, and interact with others. This ease of use, combined with its powerful features, is why many people choose Discord as their go-to platform.
As of 2024, Discord continues to evolve as a platform that not only serves gamers but also appeals to a wider range of communities, including content creators, hobbyists, and professional groups. The platform has introduced multiple new features aimed at enriching user engagement and expanding its product offerings.
In 2022, Discord introduced the "Activities" feature, which serves as an in-app game center, allowing users to engage in simple games or activities together within voice channels. This was a key step in making Discord more interactive and social beyond just voice communication. The success of this feature led to the introduction of the Embedded App SDK in March 2024, which is similar to WeChat Mini Programs. This SDK allows developers to create and publish games or applications directly inside Discord, offering a new way for creators to engage with users. This feature provides developers with a seamless experience for integrating third-party apps and games into Discord, making it even more versatile.
In September 2024, Discord expanded its "Activities" feature further by introducing in-app purchases (IAP) for games and apps published via the Embedded App SDK. This feature is now available to developers in the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe, opening up new opportunities for monetization. With this new feature, Discord is aiming to create a revenue-sharing model that can rival other platforms that use in-app purchases for games and apps. This move also highlights Discord’s ambition to grow beyond just being a communication platform and become a more integrated hub for entertainment and digital commerce.
Revenue and Monetization Challenges
Despite the growth and introduction of new monetization tools, Discord faces ongoing challenges in turning its popularity into consistent profitability. As of 2021, Discord generated approximately $310 million in revenue, primarily from Nitro subscriptions, which offer premium features like enhanced voice quality, custom emojis, and larger file uploads. However, even with these revenue streams, Discord is still far behind major ad-supported platforms in terms of total revenue.
The introduction of server subscriptions in 2024 has provided another avenue for monetization, but Nitro’s adoption rate remains low relative to Discord’s overall user base of 150 million monthly active users. It’s estimated that fewer than 5% of Discord’s users are paying for premium services, which has made it difficult for the company to reach the kind of profitability seen by other social media platforms.
Additionally, Discord’s previous attempt to launch the Discord Store was short-lived, as the store failed to gain significant traction compared to giants like Steam. This led to its closure in 2019, signaling the company’s pivot toward refining its business model.
Looking forward, Discord’s main challenge will be achieving sustainable profitability while preserving its strong user-first approach. The company’s reliance on premium subscriptions and server-based monetization will likely continue to grow. Discord’s ability to balance user experience with value-added features such as in-app purchases and premium services will be key to its long-term success.
The Activities and Embedded App SDK features represent a significant part of Discord’s future monetization strategy, allowing developers to monetize their games and apps within the platform. This move not only opens new revenue opportunities but also strengthens Discord’s position as a platform for social gaming and community engagement, rather than just a communication tool.
In addition, Discord is expected to continue expanding its presence in the entertainment and digital commerce sectors. Partnerships with game developers, creators, and brands could play an important role in driving growth and profitability. Discord’s success in these areas will depend on its ability to attract and retain both creators and users, while ensuring that the platform remains a place for engaging social experiences.
Discord’s evolution in 2024 demonstrates its ability to adapt and innovate, moving beyond its gaming roots into new areas like app integration and in-app purchases. While the company faces challenges in achieving profitability, its product innovations and new monetization strategies position it for continued growth. As Discord explores these new revenue models and strengthens its community-driven platform, its future looks promising, though it will need to carefully balance user experience with its financial goals.
Discord was originally developed by two gamers to solve communication issues during online gaming. It focused on improving the communication experience for gamers by providing high-quality voice chat and low-latency features.
Young people like Discord because it supports voice, text, and video chats, and allows users to create various communities and groups. It offers a high level of social freedom, and its simple interface and ad-free experience make it more comfortable and enjoyable to use.
Discord gradually expanded its features, starting with voice chat for gaming, and later adding support for study groups, interest-based communities, work teams, and other types of groups. This made it appealing to a wider audience beyond gamers, attracting a more diverse user base.
Microsoft, along with other major companies, showed strong interest in Discord due to its massive user base and rapid growth. Acquiring Discord would help Microsoft expand its influence in the social and digital platforms sector, enhancing its presence in the communication and gaming industries.
Discord primarily generates revenue through its Discord Nitro subscription service. Nitro offers premium features for paying users, including more emojis, custom profiles, and higher-quality voice and video calls.
Discord does not display ads on its platform. The company believes that ads would disrupt the user experience, which is one of the key reasons why Discord stands out from other social platforms. This ad-free experience contributes to a more seamless and enjoyable chat environment for users.
