It was reported earlier this week by Bloomberg that Microsoft had been talking to the group-chat platform Discord about a potential acquisition for over $10 billion, but no deal was imminent at the time of writing.
Now, The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the deal could well be imminent, as it says Microsoft is in 'exclusive, advanced talks' with Discord over a potential purchase, and the deal could even be completed next month.
"Microsoft and Discord are in exclusive talks and could complete a deal next month, assuming the negotiations don’t fall apart, the people said."
Again, WSJ suggests that this information is being provided by "people familiar with the matter," and it still looks like a deal of $10 billion or more is on the table, which is significantly more than Microsoft paid for Bethesda recently.
It doesn't look like this story is going away anytime soon, then! We'll keep an eye on it...
Do you want to see Microsoft purchase Discord? Give us your thoughts in the comments below.
[source wsj.com]
Comments 16
Track recording is a bit shaky...Zune, Mixer etc so not confident about how well this will go...
I'm still not entirely sure what MS really "gets" out of this, certainly not for "more than" Bethesda but evidently, MS sees something.
@abe_hikura I was thinking the same thing. I'm sure they have their reasons but from the outside looking in I'm not sure what 10 billion dollars is actually getting them here. Maybe this is less an Xbox oriented acquisition and more MS thinking that they want to turn it into a competitor to WhatsApp.
@abe_hikura My guess is this allows better cross-platform chat for them. Maybe something they can offer with Xcloud as well as PC/Xbox party chat. All integrated, so your friends on all platforms are listed together.
It's probably a move towards cross-platform play too.
Most PC players use Discord to communicate, they don't want to use Xbox LIVE Parties and apps to do this.
Having a Discord app on Xbox and not on PS5 would boost cross-platform. Or even if it was on PS5, the money people pay for Discord Nitro features etc. would go to MS as well.
My friends and I have this problem as half of us use PC and half of us use Xbox's, and the PC players don't like having to use the Xbox app so we can all voice chat together, far easier if we all used Discord. And Discord quality and ease of use is better than the Xbox voice chat anyway, which leaves much to be desired IMO.
@Xeno_Aura
Several years ago I also played some multiplayer games on PC, but then we used Teamspeak.
What happen with Teamspeak is it still relevant or is now mostly Discord used?
@Murray I can say with fairly high certainty that 90% of PC players use Discord. I've never used Teamspeak, I used Skype many many years ago.
There's a reason why MS is 'reportedly' offering $10bn, Discord is by far the largest gaming chat app around, and it offers text support like IRC, it's used by every major gaming company there is.
@abe_hikura I’ve read somewhere that Phil Spencer is leading this deal. So expect great Discord integration at Xbox platform level.
That $10 billion is really too much for something i barely care about. Others might find this acquisition "exciting" but i rather want MS to use that money to acquire more dev studios or invest those money in 3rd party studios to generate more IPs. All i care is more games, games, and games on Xbox.
But $10 billion probably amount to nothing to MS' seemingly infinite amount of money. This acquisition probably won't affect them financially at all and they have another $50 billion lying around somewhere for acquiring more dev studios.
@endlessleep I think the second part of what you said is correct. This is junk change to them. Especially after we found out the gaming division alone more than made back the Bethesda purchase just since last fall.
@endlessleep MS has a lot more money on the bank. They had 130 billion in cash before the Bethesda aquisition, and made another, what, 15 billion since?
They have enogh to buy another big bunch of studios, if they find fitting ones.
If you ask me, based on many other moves in the industry recently like the roblox valuation, and even older ones like Minecraft aquisition, the truth is that Bethesda's aquisition was ridiculously undervalued, at least without looking at their books.
Bethesda must have REALLY wanted to sell off to MS specifically, or they had a horrible financial situation, to sell all those studios and assets for what now feels as so little.
I genuinely wonder what Discord has to offer them considering they're paying more for them than they did for ZeniMax
@bort118 this is exactly what I'm thinking. MS are clearly pushing the 'xbox is a multi-device platform' and Discord could very well win over more audience.
I mean, besides youtube streaming, it's probably one of the most requested features for xbox, and Switch.
And Discord isn't exclusively gaming like Bethesda is. I think that's why they paid more. All sorts of communities have Discord servers. There's obviously huge potential outside of Xbox (and gaming) for Discord.
I don't think this move is only game-related. During the last year of pandemic Discord had lots of traffic from very different groups of interest.
Discord in combination with Teams could be interesting.
@Xeno_Aura even if its not on ps5 it will still be on mobile for ps5 players to use and will probably be easier to use over mobile than on a console due to dual screening
@abe_hikura MS is also in the “chat” business. This acquisition would instantly remove their biggest competition while also providing access to its 300 million registered users. I’m sure this acquisition goes way beyond an Xbox thing, though I’m sure Xbox users would reap benefits from this such as seamless discord integration with their Xbox. While many feel MS’s buying spree is bad for the industry, as an Xbox user, I only can see all my Xbox investments are paying dividends. Every acquisition provides me with more bang for my buck.
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