Just today, Discord has rolled out a store beta for 50,000 users in Canada. According to the company’s official blog, they’re launching a store where players can purchase games and boot them up straight from the app launcher, similar to what Steam and GOG are currently offering.
The idea here is to present gamers with a well curated selection of games. Whereas Steam has been opening its gates to all developers, big and small, Discord wants to be a little more exclusive with its store. Over on the announcement post, Discord describes it as a “curated game store experience similar to one of those cozy neighborhood book shops with recommendations about the hottest and newest games from us to you.”
The company also announced a “First on Discord” program where they’ll be working with indie developers to help produce their games, in return for timed exclusivity on their platform. The time period will usually last for 90 days before developers are allowed to sell their games on whatever platforms they want. In addition to that, the Discord app will also serve as a universal game launcher that can scan your computer for games, and then boot them up without you worrying about which program you need to start up in order to play.
This is still in beta at the moment, and will be rolling out to more users soon.
