Sony is partnering with Discord to integrate the popular online communication app with the built-in social media tools on the PlayStation. As part of the deal to tie the messaging app with Sony’s PlayStation division, a unit of Sony has taken an undisclosed minority stake in Discord ahead of a rumoured IPO.
Sony shared a brief announcement post on its blog, but the exact nature of the partnership has not been detailed yet. The post reads, “Our goal is to bring the Discord and PlayStation experiences closer together on console and mobile starting early next year, allowing friends, groups, and communities to hang out, have fun, and communicate more easily while playing games together.”
Details on what this actually entails are slim, leaving users to speculate whether this marks the arrival of a full-fledged Discord app on PlayStation consoles or limited integration of certain Discord features.
Jim Ryan, President & CEO, writes, “From our very first conversation with co-founders Jason Citron and Stan Vishnevskiy, I was inspired by their lifelong love for gaming and our teams’ shared passion to help bring friends and communities together in new ways.”
Sony Interactive Entertainment has also made an undisclosed investment as part of Discord’s Series H round as a minority investor. Discord has one of the biggest online communities with over 140 million active users as of December 2020, with most of its community members being gamers. Microsoft was reportedly in talks to acquire Discord earlier this year, but those talks do not seem to have materialised.
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