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The gaming-centric chat app is looking at prospective buyers.

In the pandemic age, text, voice, and video chatting apps have become a necessity for work, keeping in contact with family, and of course, playing video games. Discord, a chatting app primarily intended for streaming and chatting while playing games, has seen a bump in use over the last year as users form new chat communities to share their interests. With over 100 million active users, the service has become a social network in and of itself, attracting the eye of some powerful investors.


According to insiders who spoke to Bloomberg, tech giant Microsoft has entered into talks with Discord Inc. to foster a potential acquisition for a price tag of over $10 billion. Over the last few years, Microsoft has been looking to expand its sphere of influence and break into pre-existing online communities where it can flaunt its Game Pass gaming subscription service.

“Microsoft possibly acquiring Discord makes a lot of sense as it continues to reshape its gaming business more toward software and services,” said Bloomberg Intelligence Analyst Matthew Kanterman. “There’s a big opportunity to bundle Discord’s premium offering, Nitro, into the Game Pass service to drive more subscriptions from the last reported 18 million.”

“We expect Xbox to remain acquisitive to keep bolstering the value proposition of Game Pass and drive subscriptions higher,” Kanterman said.

Microsoft isn’t the only option on the table, however. Discord has also conducted talks with Amazon and Epic Games, and rumors of dropping the idea of a buyer and going public instead have also surfaced. Currently, neither Microsoft or Discord, nor any of the other prospective buyers, have publicly commented on the matter.