Discord now lets you buy and gift video game skins

Discord is adding a new commerce feature that allows users to purchase digital items for games they may not even play. Starting from marvel Rivals, Users will be able to search, purchase, wishlist and gift cosmetics without leaving the platform.

It works like this. Starting today, Marvel competitors It will have a new store page that can be accessed directly through the game’s official Discord server. There you can browse offers and purchase them without launching the game client. Users can also create wish lists for specific items that will appear on their profile, where friends can also view and purchase them. says Stan Vishnevsky, Discord co-founder and chief technology officer Edge It’s the wishlist and gifts aspect of the new store that provides the most opportunities for both platform and game developers.

“On any given day, 20 percent of purchases are gifts,” he said. Current Discord Store Which sells cosmetics to activate user profiles. “And on holidays, it can go up to more than 30 percent.” With these new store features, the team saw an opportunity to allow users to extend that generosity beyond the confines of Discord. Discord also has the opportunity to take a cut of purchases but has not revealed details of how that revenue will be split. The goal is to provide additional revenue and value to developers, Vishnevskiy said. “We’re not ultimately just taking a part of something,” he said.

This value comes in making the purchasing experience simple and smooth while adding the ability to acquire new players. Buying things for yourself is an insider, Vishnevskiy said Marvel competitors It’s a fairly straightforward process, but trying to buy for someone else can be tedious and impossible, outside of gift cards, if you’re not already playing the game. “We all have friends who play games that we don’t play, and who like things that we don’t always like,” Vishnevsky said. “This gives the game developer an opportunity to reach friends of people who are likely to be customers now.”

The store is available in US currency and on the desktop app only, but Vishnevskiy said bringing the offering to consoles and mobile is a “mental priority” for the team. As for why the feature started with Marvel competitorsIt was a natural fit, Vishnevsky says. “They have the largest game server on Discord, with over 4 million people constantly running events with them and creating reasons for (players) to show up.”

But while Marvel competitors It’s the only game that has this feature at the moment, and it’s not just the big AAA games and publishers that will be able to take advantage of this software. Vishnevskiy talked about introducing Discord to him Social SDK earlier this yearwhich allows developers of all sizes to integrate chat and other social features into their games. The plan for Discord’s in-game store will follow the same path, he said. “We’re starting with more AAA games, but our goal is to make sure these games are available long-term after that,” Vishnevsky said.

In the current media landscape, media and gaming platforms are experimenting with different approaches To keep people engaged For a longer period of monopoly thus Monetize their attention with varying degrees of success and User irritation. According to Vishnevskiy, this new feature isn’t designed to keep people on the Discord wheel, but something says it will enhance the already useful experiences players have on the platform. “Telling people: ‘Hey, your friend loves this game and loves this character, and if this is his birthday, he’ll appreciate it.’ It’s a unique thing Discord can do,” he said.