6 ms·

I actually disagree that Discord doesn't have a functional business. They have massive growth and many many top teams, streamer personalities etc use their serv

I actually disagree that Discord doesn't have a functional business. They have massive growth and many many top teams, streamer personalities etc use their services. If Discord becomes a critical component to the content creators of the whole gaming ecosystem, there's going to be plenty of revenue opportunities.

ocdtrekkie 10y ago
As I just said, and you confirmed: Discord doesn't have a functional business. Discord currently makes no money. "Opportunites" are just that, opportunities. A lottery ticket is an opportunity, but it is not a business. Discord promises it will always be free with "no gotchas". It specifically notes no "slot limitations" as an example of that, which indicates premium tiers are unlikely. They promise to never charge for core functionality. Presumably they may be able to do some sponsored promotion of some sort, but banner ads are probably out. The revenue plan they mention is here: "In the future there will be optional cosmetics like themes, sticker packs, and sound packs available for purchase." And I have not ever seen an emoji pack for a chat service as an appealing sales item that's going to fund a startup. I'm super skeptical of this, and it's why I don't use it. But, it'd make a solid acquisition for a company like Twitch that has a shoddy/simple chat function and needs something better in the gaming space.
- quaunaut 10y ago
  You should check out LINE. Same business model, absolutely huge.
- SandersAK 10y ago
  I guess I don't know what you mean by functional business. For me they have built an incredibly valuable asset that has grown enormously and will probably continue to do so. Amazon is another company with opportunities to make profit, but they traditionally haven't done much of that, eschewing that for just growing value. In the years when Amazon was not turning profit, would you consider it a non-functional business?
  - Macha 10y ago
    I don't see how they're going to extract enough revenue to keep the lights on and pay the staff. This isn't the same as Amazon reinvesting money that would otherwise be profits.
- mintplant 10y ago
  > And I have not ever seen an emoji pack for a chat service as an appealing sales item that's going to fund a startup. You underestimate gamers as a market. Valve's built a thriving business on virtual hats. Twitch sells access to premium emotes and a wider range of username colors as a subscription upgrade. "Cosmetic purchases" are huge. Discord could also do what Twitch does and let streamers offer recurring donation options to their fanbases, in exchange for perks like being able to talk during restricted times (eg. during large streams) and custom community-specific stickers.
  - elmigranto 10y ago
    I'm not that sure about Valve. What they actually have for hats now is a system that withdrawals short of casino — you can't buy the thing you want, instead, you buy a "crate" that may (randomly) contain it, or other item. My thinking is that hats aren't that profitable without these kinds of tricks, and Steam effectively sponsored everything that happened at Valve before they implemented "gambling".
    - emp_zealoth 10y ago
      You do realise it is completely backwards, right? The crates were first to arrive, only after that the real money market came along. Sure, the boxes themselves were a little scammy, but it was not like it meant anything gameplay wise, unlike most of in-game purchases ever - where you have to continually feed money to be able to keep up
      - elmigranto 10y ago
        Not sure what you mean by "real money market", Steam Community Market? Or ability to put in money for creates in TF2? Because in TF2 you first would randomly receive items for just playing or achieving certain goals. Then they added creates which would also randomly drop and you'd need to buy a key to unlock some random stuff inside. Not sure on current situation, haven't played for years now. In the beginning of Dota 2, you were able to buy item directly, now you either need to go to Commumity Market, or buy crates from Valve. Check out dota2.com/store — there is either half a year old sets, or crates for new ones. Even older items are not in the shop and I believe w/ever you unlock from crates is not tradable for quite some time. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there seems to be no way to buy particular items directly, at least not newer ones. (Exceptions are $30+ arcana quality sets which bring a lot of money as they are, so no need to increase price with "gambling".)
- leonnoel 10y ago
  LINE made $268 Million from just stickers last year http://qz.com/704768/line-sold-268-million-worth-of-stickers-last-year-amid-asias-messaging-boom/ http://qz.com/704768/line-sold-268-million-worth-of-stickers... If Discord can keep up the growth, things like stickers, emojis, and sound packs could pull in good revenue. Also, the gaming community is already used to paying for these items on sites like Twitch
  - ocdtrekkie 10y ago
    I will stand corrected, with this excellent example.
    - smnplk 10y ago
      God, I'm so disconnected with current millennial trends, I had to lookup what those stickers were.
      - meowface 10y ago
        I'm a millennial and haven't heard of them until now. Everyone likes to keep coming up with new names for the word "emote".
        smnplk 10y ago
        I'm actually a millennial too, I just don't give a damn about all these new apps that are reinventing irc for the tap/swipe people.
        voltagex_ 10y ago
        I have to admit, Slack and Discord are much nicer to use than IRC - even something like IRCCloud (and I'm a relatively happy paying customer of IRCCloud).
      - xiaoma 10y ago
        It's probably due to location. LINE is absolutely dominant in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and a few other Asian markets. None of my friends in America use it really. Facebook messenger is clearly watching LINE closely though.

ocdtrekkie 10y ago

As I just said, and you confirmed: Discord doesn't have a functional business. Discord currently makes no money. "Opportunites" are just that, opportunities. A lottery ticket is an opportunity, but it is not a business. Discord promises it will always be free with "no gotchas". It specifically notes no "slot limitations" as an example of that, which indicates premium tiers are unlikely. They promise to never charge for core functionality. Presumably they may be able to do some sponsored promotion of some sort, but banner ads are probably out. The revenue plan they mention is here: "In the future there will be optional cosmetics like themes, sticker packs, and sound packs available for purchase." And I have not ever seen an emoji pack for a chat service as an appealing sales item that's going to fund a startup. I'm super skeptical of this, and it's why I don't use it. But, it'd make a solid acquisition for a company like Twitch that has a shoddy/simple chat function and needs something better in the gaming space.

quaunaut 10y ago
You should check out LINE. Same business model, absolutely huge.
SandersAK 10y ago
I guess I don't know what you mean by functional business. For me they have built an incredibly valuable asset that has grown enormously and will probably continue to do so. Amazon is another company with opportunities to make profit, but they traditionally haven't done much of that, eschewing that for just growing value. In the years when Amazon was not turning profit, would you consider it a non-functional business?
- Macha 10y ago
  I don't see how they're going to extract enough revenue to keep the lights on and pay the staff. This isn't the same as Amazon reinvesting money that would otherwise be profits.
mintplant 10y ago
> And I have not ever seen an emoji pack for a chat service as an appealing sales item that's going to fund a startup. You underestimate gamers as a market. Valve's built a thriving business on virtual hats. Twitch sells access to premium emotes and a wider range of username colors as a subscription upgrade. "Cosmetic purchases" are huge. Discord could also do what Twitch does and let streamers offer recurring donation options to their fanbases, in exchange for perks like being able to talk during restricted times (eg. during large streams) and custom community-specific stickers.
- elmigranto 10y ago
  I'm not that sure about Valve. What they actually have for hats now is a system that withdrawals short of casino — you can't buy the thing you want, instead, you buy a "crate" that may (randomly) contain it, or other item. My thinking is that hats aren't that profitable without these kinds of tricks, and Steam effectively sponsored everything that happened at Valve before they implemented "gambling".
  - emp_zealoth 10y ago
    You do realise it is completely backwards, right? The crates were first to arrive, only after that the real money market came along. Sure, the boxes themselves were a little scammy, but it was not like it meant anything gameplay wise, unlike most of in-game purchases ever - where you have to continually feed money to be able to keep up
    - elmigranto 10y ago
      Not sure what you mean by "real money market", Steam Community Market? Or ability to put in money for creates in TF2? Because in TF2 you first would randomly receive items for just playing or achieving certain goals. Then they added creates which would also randomly drop and you'd need to buy a key to unlock some random stuff inside. Not sure on current situation, haven't played for years now. In the beginning of Dota 2, you were able to buy item directly, now you either need to go to Commumity Market, or buy crates from Valve. Check out dota2.com/store — there is either half a year old sets, or crates for new ones. Even older items are not in the shop and I believe w/ever you unlock from crates is not tradable for quite some time. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there seems to be no way to buy particular items directly, at least not newer ones. (Exceptions are $30+ arcana quality sets which bring a lot of money as they are, so no need to increase price with "gambling".)
leonnoel 10y ago
LINE made $268 Million from just stickers last year http://qz.com/704768/line-sold-268-million-worth-of-stickers-last-year-amid-asias-messaging-boom/ http://qz.com/704768/line-sold-268-million-worth-of-stickers... If Discord can keep up the growth, things like stickers, emojis, and sound packs could pull in good revenue. Also, the gaming community is already used to paying for these items on sites like Twitch
- ocdtrekkie 10y ago
  I will stand corrected, with this excellent example.
  - smnplk 10y ago
    God, I'm so disconnected with current millennial trends, I had to lookup what those stickers were.
    - meowface 10y ago
      I'm a millennial and haven't heard of them until now. Everyone likes to keep coming up with new names for the word "emote".
      - smnplk 10y ago
        I'm actually a millennial too, I just don't give a damn about all these new apps that are reinventing irc for the tap/swipe people.
        voltagex_ 10y ago
        I have to admit, Slack and Discord are much nicer to use than IRC - even something like IRCCloud (and I'm a relatively happy paying customer of IRCCloud).
    - xiaoma 10y ago
      It's probably due to location. LINE is absolutely dominant in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and a few other Asian markets. None of my friends in America use it really. Facebook messenger is clearly watching LINE closely though.