Microsoft in Early Talks to Buy Discord for over $10 Billion
Gaming-focused chat platform Discord has recently reached out to potential buyers. Currently, multinational tech giant, Microsoft is in early talks to buy Discord for over $ 10 billion. Both Discord and Microsoft have a great influence on the gaming community around the world.
The potential acquisition for a figure of over $10 billion will open up new avenues for both entities to tap audiences beyond the gaming sphere. Although Discord is holding talks with other potential players apart from Microsoft, as of now, no deal is imminent.
Discord is also in discussion with Amazon and Epic Games.
COVID-19 impact on gaming companies
The dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic has improved the growth prospects of gaming organizations. Due to the lockdown and other restrictions, people have stayed home and leaned toward video games for entertainment.
According to the Newzoo Global Games Market Report, the global video game market is expected to be worth $159 billion in 2020. [1]
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Microsoft and Discord’s potential deal
The acquisition of Discord will be a strategic one for Microsoft. If the deal goes through, Microsoft can make the most of the slack-platform’s operational model to connect with gaming communities worldwide.
Discord has grown in popularity among communities across a range of gaming platforms which include, mobile, PCs, and consoles. With this strategic move, Microsoft can improve its engagement with its Xbox community. Besides, Microsoft can also use this opportunity to transform Discord into a platform exclusive to Windows and Xbox gamers.
More about Discord
Discord is a messaging and voice-chat application that gained immense popularity during the pandemic. Due to the pandemic, at present, Discord has over 140 million active monthly users. The company raised around $ 100 million in June last year and investors valued the company at $ 7 billion in December 2020.
Launched in 2015, Discord was primarily designed for gamers to talk as they played. The news of a potential acquisition comes shortly after Discord announced former Pinterest exec Tomasz Marcinkowski as its first chief financial officer.
Source:
[1] Hall.S (2020) “How COVID-19 is taking gaming and esports to the next level” World Economic Forum [online] Available from:
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/05/covid-19-taking-gaming-and-esports-next-level/
