The Discord Store Beta has launched globally as of today, October 16. The gaming-focused chat client’s Steam competitor was announced earlier this year. This beta will showcase various features of the service such as First On Discord, Discord Nitro, and Universal Library. There is currently no news on when the storefront will officially launch and leave beta status.
As previously discussed, First On Discord will have timed launches of certain games. Currently, there are only a few games on this service, such as Bad North. Discord Nitro, on the other hand, will act as like a Netflix service for PC games. For $10 a month, subscribers will have access to 50 games while their subscription lasts.
Highlights include Super Meat Boy, the Darksiders franchise, and Metro: Last Light Redux. It looks like many of the games on the service will be older, more independent games. For those who do not want games with this subscription, the company has announced Nitro Classic. This will cost $4.99 a month and will only give users the chat-focused perks. These include changing the number next to their username and using custom emoji, among many others features.
Universal Library will be Discord’s venture to limit the hassle involved with playing PC games. This feature will allow users to launch any game from the chat client without having to interact with any other launchers. For games that require a launcher program to be active, such as Overwatch, Universal Library will start both the other launcher and the game at the same time.
The store itself will also feature curation of games geared towards specific users. It will do this via tailored recommendations and testimonials on the games. Metacritic scores of games available will also be visible to further help curate the experience. Currently, there are only 20 games available for purchase on the digital storefront. The beta is available for all users as of right now.
[Image source: blog.discordapp.com]
