Recently, Sony confirmed that it had made a minority investment in Discord, and that it would be establishing a new partnership with the hugely popular platform. But what does that actually mean for PlayStation players? What is Discord, and how could it be integrated into the existing console experience? For the uninitiated, we're hoping to give you some idea of what PlayStation's partnership with Discord could bring to the table on PS5 and PS4.
Okay, So What Is Discord?
Many of you reading this will already know what Discord is — you probably already use it to stay in touch with friends, or perhaps you're a proud member of a specific gaming group. But if, like 75 per cent of the Push Square team, you're completely clueless, let's try and explain what Discord is all about.
Basically, Discord is a communication platform for PC and mobile. It lets you chat with people through text, voice, or video. Its branding is very gamer-focused, and it markets itself as a platform that's primarily used for gaming — a way for users to chat with one another while playing multiplayer games.
At first glace, Discord can look quite complex, but that's because it's highly customisable. You can create different groups for different situations, and within those groups, you can create different text or voice channels for specific members, or specific activities. You can have as much or as little organisation as you like.
For example, say you have a Discord group for your Monster Hunter crew — a crew of, say, 10 people. Those 10 people are all part of the main text channel, where you can freely chat with each other. But when it comes to actually playing, you could invite your allies to a separate voice channel. If you wanted, you could even create different channels for different activities. One voice chat for high rank monster hunting missions, for instance, and another chat for low rank quests. Again, it's all about customisation — that's Discord's strength.
What Does Discord Mean for PS5 and PS4?
It's fair to assume that Discord will be used to bolster communication features on PS5 and PS4. You can already create groups, message friends, and voice chat through the PlayStation Network — and that's probably not going to change. However, Sony's partnership with Discord likely means that you'll be able to access your Discord groups on PS5 and PS4. In turn, this would mean that you could organise channels on your PC or phone, before jumping over to those same channels on your console.
Sony's official statement on the partnership reads: "Together, our teams are already hard at work connecting Discord with your social and gaming experience on PlayStation Network." Right now it's a rather vague explanation, but it's not hard to imagine a level of integration that would unite the two platforms.
The statement continues: "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."
We think the key words here are "more easily". Being a massively popular communication platform, Discord is built on the idea of bringing people together — making it relatively easy to organise anything from professional meetings to casual chats. It's probable that Sony will be making use of Discord's experience in order to streamline the process of social interaction through PSN.
With that in mind, it all comes down to how deep the Discord integration goes. While we can't see a future where PSN's messaging service is replaced with Discord, it's possible that Discord will be slotted into the existing experience. You'll still be able to chat with all of your usual PSN pals — but by linking your Discord account (or signing up), your Discord contacts will be visible alongside your PSN friends list.
In a way, Discord could be a replacement for PSN Communities. The now defunct PS4 feature let you gather a bunch of likeminded players in one big chatroom, where you could post messages and share screenshots. It would make sense to give players dedicated access to their Discord groups on PS5 and PS4, which would essentially amount to having a much more useful version of Communities, complete with all of Discord's features.
Additional Benefits of Having Discord on PS5, PS4
As alluded, Discord can be more than just a series of chatrooms for you and your friends. Loads of companies and brands utilise Discord in an official capacity, allowing for moderated, 'official' Discord servers where users can get direct access to all of the latest announcements. In that sense, there's an element of social media to Discord — and it's something that could be put to good use through PlayStation.
For example, games can have their own official Discord channels. By joining one of these channels, you can keep up to date with various developments, and even hear from the developers themselves. You might also stumble across a few likeminded people, and being able to do all of this directly from your console could give PSN a surprisingly social edge.
And then there's cross-play. Again, depending on the depth of Discord's integration, it's possible that you'll be able to communicate via Discord with teaming up with players on other platforms. After all, this is what Discord does; it's designed to be a universal communication tool.
What are your thoughts on PlayStation's partnership with Discord? What kind of benefits do you want from Discord on PS5 and PS4? Enter the channel in the comments section below.
Comments 46
One slight niggle I have is that Sony have made great strides recently to tackle online abuse with their new moderation tools. Discord has a reputation for hosting child pornography and genuine hate groups. How would Sony ensure that Playstation is still a safe environment for kids while integrating Discord into the OS?
I have no idea what discord is but from what i just read I don’t really care for it. Looks like a way for companies To shove more ads and bull down our throats. I’m content with the social options now.
Discord is hugely popular with gamers and a lot of people have been using the platform for business meetings during COVID. This is a great move by Sony in my opinion!
@nessisonett
I would have thought such groups can be reported and then removed if they violate what would hopefully be very clear terms of service based on rationality and freedom to offend but not insult.
That is very good news. I'd happily throw all of PSN's various messaging/groups etc right in the bin and replace them with Discord. Not saying that will happen, but I'd be all for it.
The voice chat we have is good enough for me and i definitely don't want my mate's ugly mugs taking up my screen space.
I'm not massively familiar with Discord right now, but I feel quite excited reading this article. Tons of potential to make PS5, PS4 much more social — it'd be great if we could have a Push Square group and arrange gaming sessions together and stuff!
Hopefully it will lead to a better party chat system
@get2sammyb lawn mower racing tournament on wreckfest!
I hope the integration is pretty deep. It'd be nice to have video chat again, among other features.
All my friends play on pc and communicate through discord. I'm on Ps5 and like my immersive solo no talking game sessions. Now they are all excited I can join them, but I don't wanna really 😹😿
@get2sammyb "But if, like 75 per cent of the Push Square team, you're completely clueless,"
I assumed by 75% @ShogunRok meant just you, b/c how can you work on a gaming site in 2021 and not know what Discord is?
I don't use it myself - I tried and failed miserably, my kids still mock me - but like Reddit (which I barely use) and resetera (which I've never approached) it seems like such a part of the gaming landscape. I'm not sure it's possible to do online gaming on Switch w/o it b/c Nintnedo.
@rjejr I've just never really understood how it works, personally. I have a better idea this evening than I did this morning!
@nessisonett any CP that they know of will get taken down. I highly doubt anything would stop that from being shared through a private chat group anyway. Same idea.
As for the safe place regarding the hate, don’t join a hate group. Any platform like this has something deeply offensive and unsafe to another person. It’s not gonna work on CODs main channel, but that aside don’t join a small group like that.
And discord already shared a war on drawings, lolicon and shotacon, drawings, just drawings, (weren’t you think the drawings or moral or not doesn’t change that’s what they are) so I think any actual CP will get taken quick as possible anyway. Like I said, get a small chat group and it’s hard to moderate illegal stuff like that.
@get2sammyb It’s very useful and this would be great for cross-platform chat. I only use it for specific purposes (like talking to a certain friend or something school related), but a Pushsqaure group could be great and help set this stuff up for sure.
@Amusei Haha, you're gonna have to come clean!
This article was helpful, thank you. Things like organizing communication for large e-sports teams or direct communication with developers will become a lot more streamlined. I will probably never use it but you never know.
@get2sammyb Well you're never too old to learn. I am, but you aren't. 😉
I use it to find parties with online games rarely, not sure this will be of any use as my gamer friends mostly play single player like me but time will tell. Sometimes I still want to play Battlefront 2, such a good online game.
@Jimmer-jammer Could be a great means of communication between developers and users. For example, Housemarque was sharing a lot of feedback in its Discord upon Returnal's release.
If that was all integrated into the PS5 UI, then players would be able to have a direct means of communicating with the developers from the console itself.
Things like that are quite exciting in concept, I think!
@get2sammyb I agree! The more I think about it, this is a pretty neat move by Sony. It could be great for indie developers as well, organically ingraining them into the PlayStation ecosystem more effectively.
I hope this "app" could be totally disabled or optional for download. As same as I hope for uninstallabe "What's New" icon.
I'm currently 1 of 4 hosts on a podcast covering most media (books, gaming, movies, TV, etc) called Modern Escapism and we have a Discord set up which has become our own little community now of over 40 users. We have different channels within it such as games, food, podcast discussion and even mental health for example, as we all look after each other in there. It's a great app and it could be a great integration for the consoles.
I mod a server for disabled and chronically ill people and it's great, lots of spaces for different stuff whether it's activism, symptom management tips, or just hobbies and chit-chat. It's about as simple as any other chat app for users, and all the various bots make it fairly easy to admin.
People on Steam and Xbox can use it to automatically share what they're playing, people can automatically share their twitch streams, and it's about time PSN got in on the action.
@QueenOfHearts38 I've never seen ads on discord.
This news is something I've been looking forward to for ages! Really glad that the gap is closing on how we can chat to our friends on different platforms. Bit of a big ask, but I'd really love it if "Share your Screen" became an option on PS4/5 as well. Sharing your gameplay among pals in real time would be a real treat. Well done, Sony.
Definitely think this is a smart move for sony with cross play becoming a standard in today's gaming. console players needs a way to communicate with people on pc and xbox without using awful game chat. Just hope sony integrate it so we can balance game and chat volume like in ps partys.
@Bigkopman i am also part of a discord group about podcadt called codex history of video games
You can also check it out
It's a very good podcast.
@QueenOfHearts38 Nope it has no ads in it
I have been using it since 2019 and had no ads
But it does have a subscription
@Starliner @QueenOfHearts38 yeah, the only premium stuff is 'Nitro' which gives you useless crap like animated emoji. Nothing you miss if you stick with the free version.
@nessisonett thats a good point. I'm sure they will have some implementation regarding this.
@get2sammyb yeah this would be a really cool idea
Some in the comments have already come up with great examples of how this can be used. Other things I can think off is if Sony start making more MP focused games I can see them being released on PC day and date, so they can have a larger playing pool. And Discord would make cross platform chat possible. Sony also buying Evo could leverage Discord to host fighting game tournament groups.
You know what I miss? MSN. Ever since MSN closed down instant messaging just hasn't been the same to me.
@PossibLeigh Yeah... In due time 😖😹
@Premier_Class I used to love video chatting with friends on MSN. I barely used Skype, couldn't stand it. I've never really used many of Discord's many features but with this that could all change.
People who think we're gonna get the Discord they see on their PC's are sorely mistaken. We'll get a brutally cut-to-pieces version of Discord with a UI to match the PS4/PS5 UI. We'll be able to create and join Text and voice channels. There will be no video. No one is going to be running Discord servers on their consoles.
@nessisonett I’m gonna be honest their efforts have been kinda pointless online abuse will always be a thing it’s just a part of online gaming like it or not and when it comes to discord you really see the bad side of discord if you’re looking for it cause I’ve used it for years and have never ran into anything like that so I think it’ll be fine
@spoonard I wouldn’t Be so sure about cause they’ve already got the ground work for it and it still won’t be ready until next year so I think it’s a case of wait and see I know it won’t be like how we see it on PC unless they also add a full blown app with it which they could
First they removed the communities, and now this. I would rather stick with what we have know. If it ain't broke, which it isn't, then don't fix it.
This is a brilliant move by Sony. Discord "the" social platform for gaming.
@RubyCarbuncle I met the missus on MSN. Turned out she lived in the same block of flats but two floors up 🤣
Good times
@nessisonett i was thinking the same thing, it would be a PR nightmare, if these things started to surface again on the PS5. With so much instability in the SONY UNIVERSE right now, this would be a definite shock event.....
@nessisonett It's an issue that will present itself wherever you go on the internet. There is (unfortunatly) shady people wherever you go, and therefore moderating everything thats on discord is a seriously huge task. However, having said that, you'd have to really go looking for those kind of things to go get caught up in it. The vast majority of people who will use discord through PS4/5 will be looking to join officiated legitimate group communities and/or set up thir own group to play with other friends. Overall, I think it will have little to no impact on the community in a negative way. There are young kids that use discord on PC, and on the whole it's mostly a safe environment.
Hard pass. I'm good, thanks
I've been a dedicated Discord user since 2016 and don't regret it. So excited I'll be meeting friends from PushSquare on it.
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