[methodover]

Discord could do it. Discord SHOULD do it.

There needs to be a serious competitor to Steam, something with significant enough market share that Steam gets scared. Steam could be so much better than it is -- I'm not saying that it's a bad product, just that it could be better.

Discord seems perfectly positioned to take on Steam. They already have incredible adoption in the gaming community. And they have quite a bit of experience at this rate too. (Maybe I should go work for them and push this line from within...)

[Zpalmtree]

I really hope they don't, they have a crappy memory and cpu hog client which takes an age to start up, a very questionable privacy policy and monetization method, and their software just annoys me. I don't want my programs to spam memes at me.

[methodover]

I haven't experienced those issues with the client (on iOS or Windows). What's wrong with their privacy policy as compared to other chat services? Same question for monetization. And I don't understand the memes comment.

[throwanem]

Isn't their "native" desktop client an Electron app? Because if so, I think that's where the resource usage concern comes from. (And rightly so! I still can't get over the fact that Slack on my work laptop weighs more than Emacs.)

[Zekio]

probably talking about the hilarious update release notes

[jimminy]

Twitch is trying to do it.

They turned the Curse application into a game/mod store that also integrated custom servers that essentially mirrored Discord's application.

They also are using Twitch Prime and other service integrations to promote it. And they are well backed, which isn't something that could be said about Discord.

[thinkingemote]

Well backed as in owned by Amazon...

[methodover]

Twitch/Curse hasn't really taken off with the community as much as Discord has. It's hard for me to pin down exactly what has put people off of it...

[AlphaSite]

I wasn't even aware it does VC/text chat. Discord puts it front and center and does it extremely well.

[kuschku]

Isn't GOG already starting to compete with Steam? (Of course, from the DRM-free angle).

They're an ever growing market, backed by a publisher with a strong lineup, just like Steam was in its early days.

[larsiusprime]

(Author here)

GOG is a great service; their main limitations is that many AAA publishers absolutely refuse to release without DRM, though this is sloooooowly eroding, somewhat. GOG can't go back on their DRM-free promise without a revolt from their audience, but it also limits what big-ticket games they can sign.

I like GOG a lot, they've carved out a nice niche for themselves, but from every developer I've talked to, they're still a fraction of Steam's market share. I don't expect them to take over anytime soon, but I'll always support them and hope they continue to grow.

[ajuc]

I think from financial POV gog makes sense for CD Projekt even if it's never becoming big - simply because they can publish their games there and get 100% instead of 70% of the price. They have lots of fanboys (me included ;) ), and on PC they sold more through gog than through steam (at least in 2015, haven't seen later data).

I hope they never go back on no-DRM, it's not worth it.

[earenndil]

> many AAA publishers absolutely refuse to release without DRM

Why, though? It doesn't even work. Denuvo sort of worked, had a GIANT performance hit due to running on a VM, and even it was cracked before long.

[xahrepap]

I think HumbleBundle could do it. They already have a store, they just have built it on Steam's platform and/or standalone apps. I don't think it'd be THAT difficult for them to pivot, would it?

[larsiusprime]

Humble has already pivoted, towards a subscription service. They're doing pretty well for themselves, but they're moving away from trying to compete head-on with Steam. IMHO, this is an excellent move for them. That said, they are extremely reliant on Steam keys for their business so anything they do that might directly antagonize Valve would put their business in mortal jeopardy.

[barbs]

How likely do you think it would be for Valve to buy Discord?

[scott_karana]

Depends on how much funding Discord has already raised, I bet. Their VCs are generally going to want a massive exit, and I bet the valuations after previous raises are non-trivial. Guessing that Valve is adverse to acquisitions in general too, for their weird cultural reasons.

EDIT: $725 million. Not cheap.

https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/07/discord/

[stock_toaster]

I'm surprised Amazon hasn't bought them. Seems like it would fit well with their twitch property.

[Lazare]

Twitch (and thus Amazon) is currently making a big play to compete head to head with Discord. At least among the people I talk to, it's an abject, miserable, flaming disaster, but I think it's a bit early for Amazon to walk away from it just yet. And they might yet pull it off; they have the resources.

[phit_]

They bought Curse instead. Using it's former Curse Voice client and turning it into a games store.