Discord partnering with Playstation for Integration

[beastmode10]

@YoungGrumpyMan

Man, does this mean my hopes for Discord as a cross-chat platform between Xbox and PS are dead? Would love to have a chat solution for cross-play games that don’t have cross-chat, like Rocket League.

Probably - the chances are better than ever.

[beastmode10]

@DeoGame

Kojima with MS, Discord with Sony. Shit keeps getting funnier.

Funny times. True.

But make no mistake, these are not at the same level, if look closely. Even one of us can invest in Discord series H if we had enough funds - a few million. This would have not cost much btw.

I would always value content higher than a tech partnership.

If the Kojima thing works out as planned, that is a big deal.

[javycane (Javier Ruiz)]

Optics aside this gen is about to be insane. Sony and Microsoft keep giving gamers stuff and we as consumers can only win.

[BRiT]

This was from December 2020. So $7 billion evaluation in December 2020, and turn down offer of $12 Billion in April. That’s a premium of 71% in just 4 months.

To quote @LiamS from a post at B3D:

interestingly this has been in the works for a little while now, on the sony blog they said that sony invested into discords series H round. This round of investment occurred in december 2020 at a $7B valuation

Some info on the funding round more generally

Discord bags $100M funding in Series H round at $7B valuation (techstory.in)

Obviously this is a very minor stake all things considered, even if sony had been the sole investor in the funding round, which they weren’t, they would have a ~1.4% stake.

I wonder if this makes microsoft up their offer of (according to reports) $12B

[beastmode10]

@Jeans

That’s suspicious…

Why investing in these companies like Discord, Epic, Evo if not to get some benefit ?

That doesn’t sound good for us on Xbox…

Evo is a 50% partnership. Epic and Discord are very very minor investments.

Evo is strategic - probably some fighting games are exclusive.

Epic is a large company now, valued at 36bn+, and Tencent had a large stake there. Sony does not have a large say there other than probably putting their games on EGS, maybe in the future.

And Discord is just looking for funds as a regular startup would do. They don’t really have a net positive revenue.

[beastmode10]

@BRiT

This was from December 2020. So $7 billion evaluation in December 2020, and turn down offer of $12 Billion in April. That’s a premium of 71% in just 4 months.

To quote

Obviously this is a very minor stake all things considered, even if sony had been the sole investor in the funding round, which they weren’t, they would have a ~1.4% stake.

I wonder if this makes microsoft up their offer of (according to reports) $12B

This is funnier than I expected. So they have secured a funding round at a total valuation of 7bn, and are hesitating when MS is offering almost 80-90% premium on their supposed valuation (almost 12bn).

If I am an investor, I would have shouted at the CEO of Discord a few times over, just for saying no to MS. Wow!

I would have lost an above average exit opportunity as an investor.

[Shakez]

@beastmode10

Series H, minority stake. I don’t think they would have paid much.

I love everyone reacting as if Sony has bought Discord. I won’t be surprised to see similar partnership with Xbox too.

The optics are fun, though.

Yeah, it’s a nothing burguer.

[DeoGame]

@beastmode10

Funny times. True.

But make no mistake, these are not at the same level, if look closely. Even one of us can invest in Discord series H if we had enough funds - a few million. This would have not cost much btw.

I would always value content higher than a tech partnership.

If the Kojima thing works out as planned, that is a big deal.

Oh for sure. It’s just a kinda funny coincidence.

[beastmode10]

I am slightly suspicious of the whole affair. No one announces small Series H investments like this.

Is this to distract from Tom Warren’s story, I wonder.

[Boosted_Gear]

@beastmode10

I am slightly suspicious of the whole affair. No one announces small Series H investments like this.

Is this to distract from Tom Warren’s story, I wonder.

With Discord, I think MS will try to acquire a stake when they go public, thus bringing also an integration into the ecosystem.

[beastmode10]

@Boosted_Gear

With Discord, I think MS will try to acquire a stake when they go public, thus bringing also an integration into the ecosystem.

Yeah - let’s hope so. Usually the larger companies don’t invest like this, they just buy.

If the twitter feeds and teases were anything to go by from Xbox last year, I was always under the impression that integration work was already under way.

And even Phil was talking about codec stuff between Discord and Xbox platforms. I don’t remember where he said it.

And since they were working closely with Xbox, they had approached Xbox for an acquisition offer. They specifically went though Phil - acc to Brad Sams and Tom Warren, I think.

[Boosted_Gear]

@beastmode10

Yeah - let’s hope so. Usually the larger companies don’t invest like this, they just buy.

If the twitter feeds and teases were anything to go by from Xbox last year, I was always under the impression that integration work was already under way.

And even Phil was talking about codec stuff between Discord and Xbox platforms. I don’t remember where he said it.

And since they were working closely with Xbox, they had approached Xbox for an acquisition offer. They specifically went though Phil - acc to Brad S as and Tom Warren, I think.

Exactly. With that parntership, Sony may have signed some timed deal ( not definitive ) at worst or nothing, but they won’t be able to block it from happening.

[Running_Riot (Tyler Sanders)]

I hope that at some point a deal can be reached to also make it to Xbox and Switch. We will see.

[Boosted_Gear]

@Running_Riot

I hope that at some point a deal can be reached to also make it to Xbox and Switch. We will see.

I totally think they will, especially once they go public. They will want to put Discord everywhere.

[beastmode10]

@Boosted_Gear

Exactly. With that parntership, Sony may have signed some timed deal ( not definitive ) at worst or nothing, but they won’t be able to block it from happening.

Yeah - but they seemed to have done it in December. Why announce it now.

I think Shakez mentioned it correctly in the community thread: This is a nothingburger news story.

[beastmode10]

@Boosted_Gear

I totally think they will, especially once they go public. They will want to put Discord everywhere.

IMHO - They would have done this anyway. It has little to do with going public. They will do an IPO for huge influx of cash for their infra.

That is, unless, someone raises the currently tabled offer.

[Dom]

Why would Sony announce they invested into Discord’s series H today when it took place in 2020 and announce an integration that isn’t happening until 2022? I think its to combat the Xbox news cycle.

It’s also a super small stake, likely below 1% ownership as Discord has already gone through 6 rounds before this one.

Update: Discord confirms raising $100M at a valuation of $7B – TechCrunch

[beastmode10]

@Dom

Why would Sony announce they invested into Discord’s series H today when it took place in 2020 and announce an integration that isn’t happening until 2022? I think its to combat the Xbox news cycle.

It’s also a super small stake, likely below 1% ownership as Discord has already gone through 6 rounds before this one.

Absolutely, agree.

[Boosted_Gear]

@beastmode10

IMHO - They would have done this anyway. It has little to do with going public. They will do an IPO for huge influx of cash for their infra.

That is, unless, someone raises the currently tabled offer.

Do you think MS could raise the offer again ?

[Cortana117]

It’s fun seeing Sony keep poking the bear that is MS.

MS about to lay the smackdown again.