Reports say Discord is selling: Here's why Microsoft can't let this one slip away

Source: Discord

Microsoft has a long and storied history with messaging apps. Whether it's nostalgic memories of MSN Messenger, or more recent efforts with Microsoft Teams, communication is practically foundational to every Microsoft vertical. Microsoft has also had a long and storied history of, well, failure in this area. Despite ownership upwards Skype, the relevancy of Skype equally a platform has deteriorated in recent years in favor of speedier competitors, like WhatsApp and Telegram, or more than-connected social networks like Facebook Messenger.

Skype has still institute its footing as a back-end service for products like Microsoft Teams and Xbox Live, both of which avowal tens of millions of monthly active users. Still, at that place are big, gaping holes in Microsoft'due south ability to engage consumers within its own communication platforms, particularly when it comes to building communities, or even running pocket-sized businesses.

A new report from VentureBeat suggests that gaming-oriented messaging platform Discord is looking to sell for upwards of $10 billion. One has to presume that Microsoft is in the running to be amidst those to acquire the messaging platform, given that it aligns well-nigh perfectly with its plans for the time to come of gaming. It could as well boost Microsoft's business aspirations, given that information technology is arguably more intuitive for smaller businesses than Microsoft Teams who don't need the scale or enterprise-form integrations the service offers.

Hither's why I think Microsoft should certainly look to identify itself in the behest war for Discord, if information technology'due south not already at the fore.

Microsoft'due south messaging services are bad

Source: Windows Central

I hate to say it, merely Skype, Microsoft Teams, and Xbox Live messaging are all pretty awful at doing their job in general. Skype remains among the more reliable services for vocalization and video comms, and Xbox Live party chats generally do the job for grouping voice in gaming, but they've all fallen and then far behind competing services due to lack of innovation.

To exist fair to Microsoft Teams, information technology does things at scale for enterprises that competing solutions simply cannot offer. Just every bit a user in a mid-sized business who but needs these services for fundamental communication and filesharing, Microsoft's competitors by and large seem to have an edge for the basics.

Microsoft is a lumbering corporate giant, and often fails to come across the footstep of innovation of smaller, more than nimble teams.

Microsoft is a lumbering corporate behemothic, and often fails to meet the pace of innovation smaller, more than nimble teams tin accomplish. Few others represent this every bit succinctly as Discord, which not but destroys Skype and Xbox Live at texting, mobile quality, and usability, but arguably is even better than Microsoft Teams equally an environment for professional use. Discord has a wealth of mature services, tools, and bots that can plow basic Discord servers into productivity powerhouses with but a few elementary tweaks.

I retrieve long earlier even working in the industry, I was scratching my head over Microsoft's conclusion to shutter MSN Messenger in favor of Skype. MSN was faster than Skype and had a more than intuitive interface. Frankly, it nevertheless does.

I'thou non quite certain why, simply information technology's absurd to me that, in 2022, Skype and Xbox Alive messaging services lag backside the competition in speed. It but doesn't experience good to send texts over Skype-based services, watching the app struggle to open even on the earth's near powerful PCs and phones, while Telegram and WhatsApp, and crucially, Discord, all open at a mere instant. If afterwards years of failed attempts to rebrand and rebuild Skype, Microsoft is unable to improve even the most bones aspects of the service, there must be something fundamentally wrong with it. What else could it be? Information technology'southward fourth dimension to cut loose and motility on.

Discord would solve all of Microsoft's social shortcomings

Source: Discord

Microsoft has already been working pretty closely with Discord in recent years, and we've seen testify that Microsoft is looking at even deeper integration between Xbox messaging and Discord in the virtually future. This could be a hint that Microsoft is indeed in the bidding to learn the service, which is synonymous beyond the board with gaming communities everywhere.

Microsoft essentially has a choice to build up its own competing services or buy Discord outright.

Microsoft has attempted to emulate Discord's features in some ways. Microsoft'south own "Xbox Clubs" characteristic started fairly promisingly, and we even saw designs that would've seen Xbox Clubs become even more "Discord-like," in previous years. Those updates never materialized, however, as Discord's popularity continues to gain pace.

I wrote an commodity in the by about why Microsoft tin't ignore the rise of Discord. It was always apparent to me that Discord would eventually bring together a larger tech company. It was merely a question of "who," and "when."

Source: MicrosoftXbox Live and Discord enjoy some limited forms of integration, which could get deeper in the coming months.

In that article, I wrote that Microsoft essentially had a choice to build up its own competing services or buy Discord outright. Arguably, the onetime hasn't happened. Xbox Alive and Xbox Clubs haven't had meaningful upgrades in what feels like forever, and lag backside Discord and other instant-messaging services across PCs, and crucially, mobile phones, where Microsoft aims to evangelize the majority of its growth for Xbox Game Pass in the near hereafter.

Microsoft wholly missed the boat with streaming, declining to catch upwardly to Amazon's Twitch with Mixer. Allowing Discord to become over to Amazon or another competitor could potentially finish desperately for Microsoft, particularly if, for example, Amazon sought to integrate Discord with Twitch and its dwelling house-grown PC game streaming service Amazon Luna.

"Social" is Microsoft's big blind spot

Source: DiscordOlder Discord web pages asked users to "Ditch Skype." It doesn't need to do that anymore, since users have already ditched Skype.

Microsoft's try to buy TikTok last summer should serve as an indicator that Microsoft knows the importance of social media. In some ways, social media is the glue that many of its services simply lack. Discord isn't necessarily total-blown social media in the same vein as YouTube or Twitter, only it is crucially social in a way that it builds communities, and re-engages users passionate about a whole range of topics and subjects. It's also faster, and more intuitive than Microsoft Teams, arguably making it more productive for smaller teams who don't need the more powerful enterprise-level integrations.

Microsoft's home-grown consumer-oriented social platforms take fallen too far backside their competitors to ever catch up at this point. Redmond has establish success with LinkedIn and Microsoft Teams, but Discord'due south tech could become the glue that makes these services and features more social for regular users, thanks to superior fundamental services and an improved user experience. Whoever lands Discord volition gain a big advantage over Microsoft'south entire portfolio of services, if Microsoft is forced to continue using the dinosaurian Skype every bit its principal fashion of comms delivery. This is one deal Microsoft can't afford to permit sideslip abroad.

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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/reports-say-discord-looking-sell-itd-be-perfect-fit-xbox

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