Discord App Moves Away From Its Gaming Roots

At the beginning of its existence, Discord positioned itself as an app for gamers where you can communicate with your friends while you play games. It even tried to become a digital game distribution site, but it didn’t work out. Now, Discord is going the other way and rebranding itself as an app for everyone, not just gamers.

In a blog post on Tuesday, Discord co-founders Jason Citron and Stan Vishnevskiy say that eventually Discord became no longer just a place for gamers: everyone who liked to talk started to the app, and the service was used for training sessions, music rehearsals, podcasts and so on.

According to the blog post, Discord couldn’t keep up with the changes in the audience and continued to be perceived as a gamers’ service for too long. Now it is moving away from its gaming roots. For example:

The slogan on the official website has been changed to “Your place to talk” without gamer specifics.

In-app jokes and tricks have been changed for a wider audience. Previously, Discord was full of references that only gamers would understand.

The developers tried to make it more friendly to newcomers: for example, they added server templates to make group creation more convenient.

It doesn’t mean, of course, that gamers aren’t welcome in Discord anymore, — the company just tries to open the doors for everyone, not just those who play a lot. Citron and Vishnevskiy promise that the development of Discord continues, including “new company improvements and initiatives to strengthen civic engagement, social justice, and diversity on Discord.”