Discord CEO Sends Open Letter: MAU Surpasses 200 Million, Focus on Gaming Moving Forward, Mini-Game Platform to Launch This Year
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Discord CEO Sends Open Letter: MAU Surpasses 200 Million, Focus on Gaming Moving Forward, Mini-Game Platform to Launch This Year
For a platform whose user base is 93% gamers, Discord's decision to focus on gaming is pragmatic and wise.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsThe domestic casual games market is booming, and overseas, more companies are beginning to enter the space by launching casual gaming platforms. After YouTube officially announced its upcoming launch of mini-games, another social platform, Discord, has also made new moves. In late May, CEO Jason Citron released an open letter emphasizing that Discord will focus on multiplayer gaming, improving player communication efficiency, and casual games as key strategic areas.
When discussing the future of the gaming industry, he stated, “Gaming has become the world’s largest form of entertainment—bigger than film and music combined—and it's the fastest-growing entertainment sector. Multiplayer games will be the future of entertainment, and cross-platform play will be a prerequisite for people playing together. This has already begun, and we're only at the very beginning.”
The reason behind Discord shifting its company focus lies in respecting user behavior. In his blog post, Citron also announced that Discord now has over 200 million monthly active users (MAUs), with more than 90% of them playing games.
He pointed out, “New technologies will act as catalysts for innovation in game development, and great ideas will come from many places. Big games will get even bigger, independent game innovation will explode, and there will be far more games than any of us can imagine. We recognize the need to narrow our focus—from being a broad, community-centered chat app—to becoming a place that helps people deepen friendships around gaming and shared interests.”
Citron believes that Discord can play a unique and important role in the future of gaming—making it easier and more enjoyable for people to talk and hang out before, during, and after gameplay, while also helping game developers bring their creative visions to life.
In the near future, Discord will concentrate on three core areas: enhancing the speed of communication between players and friends; expanding Discord’s voice, video, and streaming features across more devices; and opening up more platform capabilities to creative developers.
Today, Discord already supports console, PC, and mobile gaming platforms, and continues to double down on improving the speed, functionality, and reliability of its services. Players can now voice chat directly on consoles and stream Xbox games directly into Discord.
In the open letter, Citron announced three initiatives to support game publishing and casual gaming platforms—things that are “coming this year.”
Game Quests: Influence-Based Marketing for Games
Game Quests refer to the previously announced "Quest" feature—an initiative similar to content creation tasks on streaming platforms, but specifically focused on game promotion. The process works as follows: game publishers or developers submit promotional campaigns to Discord, and users can accept these quests, create content according to guidelines, and earn rewards based on the reach and impact of their content.
Users can also discover which quests their friends are participating in through activities or live streams, then join in themselves—spreading awareness via social virality and turning more people into advocates for the games. According to Citron’s blog, titles such as *The Finals*, *Genshin Impact*, and *PUBG* have already launched quests on Discord with positive feedback.
In fact, similar models exist domestically, where major short-video platforms offer dedicated game promotion missions that significantly help new games gain traction. For example, Westwell Studio’s hit gacha game *Whiteout Survival* achieved massive traffic and user attention through extensive user-generated content distributed via TapTap, eventually reaching No. 2 on China’s iOS free download chart.
However, unlike many other platforms, Discord hosts numerous user-owned channels, including dedicated game-focused ones. Specific details about the Quest program have not yet been disclosed—for instance, could promoted games compete with existing games within a channel? How will private channel quest tasks be managed? These remain unanswered questions.
Embedded App SDK: Building a Cross-Platform Casual Gaming Platform
Perhaps even more exciting for developers is the upcoming Embedded App SDK. As Citron mentioned, this SDK will “enable developers to bring entirely new games and apps directly inside Discord, allowing players to instantly enjoy them together with friends.”
In other words, Discord is positioning itself to become a platform akin to WeChat Mini Games or TikTok Mini Games.
Developers will be able to use this SDK to release games across Discord’s desktop, mobile, and web versions, adding multiplayer features without requiring additional downloads or complex setup. They can leverage Discord servers for creative prototyping, testing different builds, and gathering direct user feedback.
In-app purchases coming soon to Discord
Additionally, Discord plans to support multiple monetization models, including one-time purchases, subscriptions, and in-app purchases. Developers will be able to integrate payment systems to monetize their games (this feature is expected to roll out shortly). However, Discord has not yet disclosed specific details such as revenue share percentages for in-app purchases.
Hosting an App Showcase Competition to Encourage Game Development on Discord
To incentivize high-quality game developers to build on Discord, the platform has launched an App Showcase competition. Registration has already closed, and users can begin voting for submitted games starting June 27, with finalists expected to be announced in July.
Winners will have the chance to receive prizes of up to $30,000 and other rewards. In addition to public voting, entries will be judged by industry professionals, including Ann-Marie Harbour, Director of Game Development at Discord; Emil Kjaehr, Head of Product and Partnerships at Funday Games; and Dustin Clingman, Product Manager at Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Back in January, reports surfaced that Discord would lay off 17% of its workforce. At the time, Citron explained, “We grew too fast—our team expanded even faster, increasing fivefold since 2020. As a result, we took on too many projects and reduced operational efficiency. It became clear we needed to sharpen our focus, improve how we collaborate, and bring greater agility to our organization—this largely drove our decision to reduce headcount.”
At last year’s GDC conference, Cherry Park, Discord’s Head of Platform Marketing, revealed that the platform had surpassed 150 million MAUs, with the majority being Gen Z users—the core demographic being young people aged 13–18. There were also rumors that Microsoft planned a $10 billion acquisition of Discord, though those talks ultimately fell through.
For a platform whose users are 93% gamers, Discord’s strategic pivot toward gaming is both practical and wise.
CEO Jason Citron stated, “Over the next decade, we believe another billion people will join multiplayer gaming and experience the deep, rich interactions we all love. For us, no matter what device you’re playing on, providing fast, seamless, and powerful ways to communicate with your friends before, during, and after gameplay will be more important than ever.”
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