Discord on Monday introduced Nitro Rewards, which gives Nitro subscribers access to offers from other gaming and lifestyle brands at no extra cost.
Nitro currently offers upgrades to Discord itself, including more profile customization options, HD streaming, and the ability to send files up to 500MB. Membership is optional as you can easily use the platform without paying, which is a deliberate design choice on Discord’s part. But that also means user acquisition can be difficult.
“Nitro has always been about how we can fundamentally enhance the Discord experience, but not limit it [for free users] to a large extent,” Discord co-founder and CTO Stanislav Vishnevskiy told TechCrunch.
Nitro Rewards, available to both Nitro Basic ($2.99 per month) and Nitro ($9.99 per month) subscribers, is intended to improve subscriber value and therefore retain them.
At launch, Nitro Rewards will provide access to the base tier of Xbox Game Pass, which lets you play more than 50 PC and Xbox games, including Fallout 4, Stardew Valley and Day Z. The tier also includes 10 hours of cloud gaming, which lets you stream PC or Xbox games to other devices.
Nitro Rewards also provides discounts of between 15% and 30% on a rotating selection of gaming hardware from Logitech G, SteelSeries and KontrolFreak. Over time, Discord plans to partner with more companies for similar offerings.
“Nitro is the largest contributor to Discord’s revenue and is growing healthily year over year,” said Vishnevskiy. “It’s about doubling down on that and bringing you more value again […] It’s really a big thank you [subscribers] for our support. But also from a business point of view, it’s better to keep the subscription as well, because people have more value for it.”
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Originally designed as a chat platform for gamers, Discord plays a much larger role in Internet culture today, serving as a community hub for all kinds of users — from crypto users building decentralized community projects and pub-goers hosting local craft nights to activists coordinating political protests. Discord also plays a big role in the tech community, and founders use the platform to convene beta testers or empower users of their products and communicate with them more directly. The platform has grown to over 90 million daily active users.
But this increased exposure means that Discord has to deal with the same complex, online security issues as larger platforms. The company is currently preparing to implement age verification measures as it faces more lawsuits for children’s safety online.
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