Discord is reportedly in the early stages of planning to go public, but a statement from the company says "we do not comment on rumours or speculation."
According to a report by the Financial Times (as spotted by VGC), "Discord is in early talks with banks about a public listing, according to people familiar with the matter." These sources add that the company was considering going public as early as 2021, but was put on hold "due to political and market uncertainty," the FT writes.
However, since interest rates are lower now and "US president Donald Trump has laid out a more tech-friendly regulatory agenda," the plans are reportedly back in motion.
"We understand there is a lot of interest around Discord's future plans, but we do not comment on rumours or speculation," a statement given to the FT by Discordreads. "Our focus remains on delivering the best possible experience for our users and building a strong, sustainable business."
Discord was valued at $15 billion in 2021, which, for those of you who regularly use it, might sound surprising. Sure, most gamers use the service, but I barely know anyone who pays for Nitro, so I simply cannot understand how it could be worth that much.
While I enjoy Discord's integration with PC, mobile, PS5, and Xbox Series consoles because of how easy it's made it to voice chat with friends across platforms, I'm less happy about the way it's replaced online forums. These days, a lot of developers use Discord to chat to their communities and deliver updates, like a Helldivers 2 dev explaining plans for endgame progression, but I'd much rather be able to simply Google a question and find an answer on an indexed forum page rather than having to join and sift through dozens of Discord channels.
Discord also has a rival in Teamspeak, an app which recently underwent a Discord-style overhaul to try and attract more of us gamers to its app.
If you want to make use of these services, check out the best online games you can play and get your pals together in a voice chat.
