Wondering How Does Discord Make Money? This program is popular with gamers and live streamers and allows users to add servers. This page explains the ways discord generates income from its services. The company has numerous streams of revenue. Discord makes money by providing its customers with a paid subscription service to augment their main free product and also benefits from games that are offered through the platform and on “boosting” servers.
Discord was founded in 2015, and its headquarter is in San Francisco. Thanks to the adoption of the international gaming and live streaming community, the firm continues to thrive with over 100 million users. Discord runs over 6.7 million servers with iPhone, Android, Mac, PlayStation, Xbox and PC support.
What Is Discord?
Discord is a gaming-focused chat program, designed exclusively for gamers. The platform offers text, audio, and video calls. It works on Android, iPhone, Mac, Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. Discord users can form communities called Discord Servers. It works like Slack groups. These servers have numerous channels for discussing and coordinating various topics. A person can connect up to 100 servers. Private ones require invitations and approval and can be viewed via a link. Each server can have up to 500 channels. If you’re sick of group chats, Discord also allows individuals to directly chat.
The software also integrates with third-party services like YouTube, Spotify, and GIPHY, allowing users to exchange content on Discord. But Discord isn’t just for gamers. From reading clubs to dance lessons, communities use the app to discuss topics and plan events.
How Does Discord Make Money?
Users of the Discord core product don’t have to pay anything. This helps the company to quickly sign-up users. Like any other business, it had to develop a revenue model. Discord introduced the Nitro bundle in 2017. In the recent years other sources of money have joined the party. But not all of the company’s plans have worked out. Two years after opening, the company closed its merchandise store selling Discord-branded clothes. As startups look for new ways to make money, some of these models work while others fail. Discord now earns money from four distinct sources, which we’ll discuss below.
Game Sales
In 2018, Discord developed its own game shop, which aimed to compete with Steam. The game store offered Nitro users to access unique Discord games like Dead Cells or Into The Breach. The shop never went anywhere and just one year after it was launched was phased away. Instead of sticking with its original business model, Discord shifted into a new model in which it works with game developers who only sell games on their servers. To begin, developers must first verify their servers. Discord will then promote the game and server on its platform to give developers the exposure needed. Whenever a game is being sold on its servers discord makes money.
The corporation receives a 10% commission from every sale. For example, if a $14.99 game comes out, Discord will get $1.49.
Server Boosts
In order to expand its business, the corporation decided to add another premium service: server boosting. Server Boosting essentially refers to increasing the server performance and functionality, with an additional charge. Users can increase their server to three tiers, with specific advantages for each level. $4.99 per month for Discord to improve your server. A server boost discount of 30% is provided to all Nitro membership holders. When two server users pay the monthly price, the users unlock Level 1. Users have to buy 15 boosts in Level 2, and Level 3 demands 30 boosts.
A good news here is that no matter what tier of service a user has, they may enjoy premium features like emojis and custom backgrounds without paying for the service.
Nitro Subscriptions
In 2017, Discord unveiled the company’s first income stream, Nitro subscription packages. It is possible to create a personal profile with animated avatars and custom tag. The service is optional though. Users can make personalized emojis using Nitro and upload up to 100 MB of files in size. You also get free live streaming, screen sharing and high-resolution video included in your Nitro subscription for $9.99 a month or $99 a year. Discord also offers a cheaper “Nitro Classic” version of this plan, charging users $4.99 a month or $49.99 annually.
Investors
This isn’t actually a business model; rather, it’s a strategy for keeping Discord alive until they can figure out a viable revenue model. Investors like Index, Greylock, Benchmark, and others contributed to Discord’s $279 million funding round.
Discord’s Future Revenue Strategies
According to Discord, its fundamental feature, which is a free voice communication service, will not be changed in the near future. But if Discord wants to stay in the market for the long haul, they’ll have to come up with new means of making money. Despite the fact that Nitro is an excellent monetization method, it has a great deal of potential as an income source in the future. The following are examples of such things:
Game Revenue Sharing
In the future, Discord may be able to secure a collaboration with a video game company. They can earn additional cash through successful referrals, which implies that they can receive a payment when consumers purchase a game or a feature that they have recommended. Discord has announced a collaboration with the music streaming service Spotify. Users of the software will be able to link their Spotify accounts to their Discord profiles. This will allow users to share what music they listen to on their Discord Profiles or listen to music on a server at the same time.
The corporation would benefit from partnerships like these because it would help them retain players on their platform. Perhaps the company will branch out into other areas, such as the arts or the corporate sector, in the future.
Discord is Launching a Game Store
Discord has taken further strides forward by launching exclusive services on its platform, which they have termed “First on Discord” games. Discord have started offering independent games for the first three months after their introduction and they will only be available on the platform. With the introduction of new monetization tactics, the gaming chat company is anticipated to see even greater growth in the future years. For the time being, it appears to be performing quite well, and it’s very likely that they can discover more new ways to grow their service even further on other platforms in the future.
Gamebridge
Gamebridge makes it possible for game developers to integrate their applications into their games, resulting in fewer coding efforts and also better game play. It’s features are as follows:
- People on voice channels are assigned automatically using Automatch
- Screenshots, GIFs, and videos may all be shared in one place
- Create permanent or temporary servers for use by in-game worlds and guilds on the go
- Create a community (Partner-like benefits)
- Audio Settings Controller
- Positional Audio (Voices in a virtual space placed to help players be more widely distributed)
In the initial months the feature was released free, however it was quickly rolled back. At the moment, the business is conducting an internal beta with chosen game developers, and it may distribute the functionality as a paid upgrade in the future.
Bottom Line
While in the past Discord served simply as a chatting platform, today it is considered to be the best place to do nearly anything online. They have a significant competitive advantage since Discord allows you to accomplish everything that you can do on various apps and platforms at the same time. You can talk to other people, play games, organize meetings, and even take a class, all in one location. Humans are goal-oriented, and we enjoy seeing tasks completed quickly. This is where Discord truly excels.
The majority of users who want these types of platforms will continue to pay for the premium subscriptions, which means that the way Discord earns money will most likely remain the same in the future, with a few surprises thrown in for good measure.
