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Discord beta reduces background noise during your chats
Discord's noise suppression could reduce most unwanted sounds.
Discord wants to clean up and support its massive bot community
Discord's new verified bots and developers program finally puts bots in the spotlight.
Discord relaxes streaming limits during coronavirus outbreak
In the wake of the coronavirus, streaming platform Discord is temporarily upping the limit on its Go Live service to 50 people at a time. In a blog post, the company said that it recognized that people in areas hit by the virus are using Discord to "keep in touch and stay on track with their everyday lives, from attending classes remotely to working from home," and that it wanted to find a way to help.
Discord drops the activity feed and game library you weren't using
Do you use Discord to launch games and keep up with the latest gaming news? No? You're not the only one. Discord is dropping both the Activity Feed and Library from its chat app as of today. The feed wasn't doing a good job of keeping people updated and "added bulk," the company said, while the Library tab and the Universal Game Launcher just haven't been "useful" to players.
Discord is pulling its subscription service's free games library
Discord's Nitro subscription service stepped into Steam territory last year when it gave subscribers access to a curated library of games. It only ever offered a fraction of the titles Steam has -- it launched with just over 60, including Super Meat Boy and Psychonauts -- but it was a nice perk that came with the $10-a-month Nitro plan. The bad news for those who play those games is that the vast majority of subscribers don't, which is why the company has decided remove its Nitro Games catalogue on October 15th.
'Killer Queen Black' drops on Switch and PC October 11th
Nintendo announced a console and PC version of the competitive five-on-five arcade game Killer Queen at E3 2018, and Liquid Bit and BumbleBear have revealed when you can try to ride a snail to victory from the comfort of your couch. Killer Queen Black will hit Switch and PC (through Steam and Discord) October 11th. It was supposed to arrive earlier this year, but at last there's a firm release date.
Discord’s ‘Go Live’ lets gamers stream to up to 10 people
Imagine streaming a game on Twitch, but only to your closest friends. Gaming chat platform Discord is launching a new feature, Go Live, that will let users stream games directly to 10 other people. Users can view your stream either through the desktop app or by browser. The feature is due to roll out on August 15th.
The Galaxy Note 10 can stream games from your PC
Samsung is keeping gamers in mind with the Galaxy Note 10. Though the PlayGalaxy Link P2P streaming service, you can stream PC games to your Note 10 and keep playing while you're on the move -- all without having to store games on your phone.
Discord introduces a better way to organize servers
Starting today, there's an easier way to organize your servers on chat platform Discord: folders. If you're a member of many Discord servers, you'll know that organizing them is a bit of a pain. Previously, you could move server icons in your sidebar to reorder them, but if you had more than 10 or so, it was hard to find the one you want. Now, you can drag and drop servers into folders, and rename or color code those folders. For example, you could create a folder for gaming servers or one for servers that you mod. You can dismiss notifications by folder, so you needn't go through servers marking channels as read one by one.
Google cloud outage knocks out Gmail, Discord and Snapchat (updated)
No, it's not just you -- many of the internet services you use went down this weekend. Google has reported an outage with its Cloud Platform that made several sites and apps inoperable in some regions on June 2nd (they're still affected as we write this). Most of them are in-house services like Gmail, G Suite and YouTube, but this also affected Discord, Snapchat and other apps that depend on Google's infrastructure. The issues were mostly noticeable in the US and Europe.
Nearly half of game developers want to unionize
Unionization isn't a new idea for the game development industry, but it is a particularly hot and contentious topic right now. A handful of events in 2018 thrust the unionization conversation to the forefront, including Rockstar boss Dan Houser's comments about developers working 100-hour weeks to finish Red Dead Redemption 2, and the tragic implosion and bitter residue of Telltale Games. Groups like Game Workers Unite have been pounding the pavement (physically and digitally) and gathering support for unionization across the globe, with a goal to "bring hope to and empower those suffering in this industry." In December, a UK chapter of Game Workers Unite became a legal trade union.
Discord will let anyone sell games on its platform
In an effort to usurp Steam's position as the one-stop shop for gamers, Discord announced that it will open up its game store for all developers in 2019. Game makers who choose to use the Discord store will receive 90 percent of the revenue share. Meanwhile, gamers will get the ability to build up their library in Discord, giving them one less reason to ever close the app.
Discord now offers early access games on its PC store
The most popular chat platform for gamers, Discord, will now be selling early access games, adding to the growing catalog of titles on the Discord Store. Early access was popularized initially by Steam and allows gamers to buy games that are still in development. It gives players access to games months -- or even years -- before launch, while giving valuable feedback to developers.
Discord’s game store is open to everyone
Discord is marching further onto Steam's turf by opening up its game store to all users. The store arrived in August in a limited beta, and now everyone can pick up games directly from the app.
Discord can beat Steam at its own game with a curated store
The Discord homepage doesn't mince words. "It's time to ditch Skype and TeamSpeak," it says in large white letters, just above buttons to download or open Discord, a video game-centric chat service that's exploded in popularity since launching in 2015. Today, Discord has 150 million users, and it's about to take on another major company in the gaming space: Steam.
Discord will start selling games in a 'curated' store
Discord isn't just for chatting (and watching the occasional video) any more. The community-driven service is launching a beta that will offer games, including a full-fledged game store. The new portal will offer a "curated" store that focuses on titles both Discord and the community feel you might like. That currently includes a mix of familiar, well-received indie games like Dead Cells and Into the Breach. However, that's really just the start.
Subpoenaing Discord may reveal identities of Charlottesville neo-Nazis
The white supremacist Charlottesville marchers who used Discord to prepare for violence might not remain anonymous for much longer. A chief magistrate judge has shot down an attempt by one of the neo-Nazis to dismiss a subpoena for Discord that would identify her and roughly 30 other users who reportedly relied on the chat app ahead of the event last year. She maintained that exposing her identity would violate her First Amendment rights to "anonymous speech" and put her in danger, but the judge disagreed. The plaintiffs' interest in identifying her as a possible perpetrator or witness outweighed her anonymity, according to the magistrate.
Steam Chat's messaging features are now available for all
After a few weeks of being limited to Steam's beta channel, a new Chat feature has rolled out for all users within the desktop app and on the web. Having an integrated friends list and chat system should make it easier to meet up with friends across games, just as we've seen on consoles and powered by third-party apps like Discord. It's already cribbed features that have taken years to show up on other platforms, like sorting friends by which game they're playing, or popping favorites to the top of the list. While it remains to be seen how much Steam's own-brand chat service will cut into those alternate options, Valve's notes let us know that a lot has changed during its beta testing period. Nearly every part of the service has been tweaked already, and as seen by the work-in-progress of most messaging systems, we'd expect to see even more changes in the future. First up? Improving mobile access with a new Steam app on iOS and Android.
Steam finally adds voice chat and flexible friend lists in new beta
Steam's chat hasn't been updated in ages, leaving its embedded communication functionality to lag behind competitors. Today, the platform introduced new features that users can access today in a beta program, which adds sorely-needed options like voice and group chat.
Discord nearly tripled its user base in one year
If it wasn't already evident that Discord is becoming a staple of playing (and watching) games, it is now. The chat platform is marking its third birthday this week with word that its user base has nearly tripled in the space of a year, jumping from 45 million in May 2017 to 135 million today. About 19 million people use it every day, and as many as 8.2 million people have used it at the same time. That kind of growth rate would be impressive for most any messaging service, although it's not entirely surprising -- it happens to be in the middle of a perfect storm of circumstances.
