This week, Discord is beginning to roll out some new features for Xbox users, bringing the console experience a little bit closer to the PC experience.
The update will integrate Discord activity with the Xbox friends list, showing who’s chatting in Discord Voice under the “Happening Now” section. Xbox users will also be able to watch Discord streams directly from their Xboxes, whether their friends are screen sharing from PC, mobile, or another Xbox.
It’s nice to be able to have a friend’s stream on in the background, but I wonder about doing it without another monitor—it’s not clear if watching a stream on the Xbox takes up your whole screen or if they’ve got some kind of windowed solution.
Finally, Discord direct calls will be available to Xbox users. No more having to join a voice channel if you want to have a conversation with one person.
These features are available first to those in the Xbox Insiders program, with global availability following soon.
Discord remains the most popular way to communicate with fellow gamers, despite the various complaints that have built up across its rise to dominance. The company reportedly resisted an acquisition attempt by Microsoft in 2021, which I’ll speculate was probably a good thing.
I’ve used Discord to watch my friends make pushes for Immortal in Dota 2, coordinated raids in EverQuest, and hung out with the crew for Path of Exile launches. Hopefully these new features will help Xbox users share some of those same experiences a bit more smoothly, and allow multiplatform gamers to swap more seamlessly between PC and Xbox.
