Voice chat has been a staple of online gaming since the early 2000s with the creation of Xbox Live. These days, gamers communicate with others by using their headset to voice chat on their gaming platform of choice or by using a VoIP service such as Discord. Thanks to a new partnership between Sony and Discord, both of these options will become one and the same for PlayStation gamers.
In an article posted today, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan stated:
At PlayStation, we’re constantly looking for new ways to enable players around the world to connect with one another, form new friendships and communities, and share fun experiences and lasting memories. It’s in this spirit that we’re excited to announce a new partnership with Discord, the communication service popularized by gamers and used by more than 140 million people every month around the world.
Together, our teams are already hard at work connecting Discord with your social and gaming experience on PlayStation Network. 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.”
Ryan also went on to mention that “Sony Interactive Entertainment has made a minority investment as part of Discord’s Series H round.” This would make Sony a minority owner of Discord. One has to question whether or not this partnership with Sony had any effect on Microsoft’s plan to buy Discord which fell through after Discord pulled out. Microsoft currently lets Xbox players link their Discord accounts so it is surprising that it took this long for an announcement like this to happen. Back in 2015, Sony and now-defunct video chat service Oovoo announced a similar partnership but it never came to fruition. Regardless, this Discord partnership is exciting news for PlayStation gamers. Are you looking forward to Discord on PlayStation? Let us know in the comments below.