Chat platform Discord opens beta version digital game store

Discord has opened a store where users can buy games. After purchase, these end up in a ‘universal library’, from which players can start and play downloaded games. It is currently an open beta.

Discord reports that the store is still in beta and the company may make adjustments based on user feedback. The store contains a small selection of games, including Super Meat boy and Psychonauts. There are also a number of ‘First on Discord’ titles available, which are exclusive to the platform. Discord says more games will be added over time.

According to the platform, payments can currently only be made via PayPal and credit card. In addition, it is only possible to download and play games via Windows. Whether the macOS and Linux versions of Discord will eventually get these features is not yet known.

The addition of the universal library makes it possible to download and play games via Discord. Players can scan their PC for games through the library and add them to the collection. In addition, synchronization with libraries from other game platforms is possible, such as Origin or Steam. Adding games manually is also an option.

With the arrival of the store, there are also two subscriptions available for Discord’s Nitro service. The Nitro subscription costs ten dollars per month. It offers unlimited access to a library of currently 60 games, animated avatars, personalized tags and a file upload capacity of up to 50MB instead of 8MB. The second subscription, Nitro Classic, is available for $5 a month. Subscribers have access to the same features as the Nitro subscription, minus unlimited access to the sixty games.

The data of the games that subscribers receive is stored externally. When a contract with a publisher expires, players still have access to the data such as save games. It is not yet clear how long players will have access to their externally stored data once their subscription expires.