Discord's live streaming feature broadcasts users' screen activity to others in their group. To achieve this, Discord uses OS-specific APIs for screen and audio capture along with robust fallback mechanisms. The captured video data is then encoded using codecs like VP8 and H264 for efficient transmission, with Discord servers handling quality adjustments and routing for high-quality delivery to viewers.
Discord is introducing Sponsored Quests as a cautious step into the realm of advertising. It offers PC gamers in-game rewards for getting friends to watch a stream of them playing through Discord. Companies like LucasFilms and Epic tested it last year. The launch marks a departure from Discord's long-standing anti-ad stance as it used to be one of its key differentiators from traditional social media platforms.
Discord builds products with generative AI quickly by identifying suitable use cases early and then prototyping with off-the-shelf LLMs. It evaluates prompts deeply before deploying at scale. Discord leans towards using off-the-shelf LLMs before thinking about using self-hosted ones because it saves engineering resources. Often, if the target problem can't be solved with GPT-4, then it probably can't be solved yet with generative AI at all.
Discord is refocusing on gaming by redesigning its app to enhance group messages, voice chats, and video calls, aiming to facilitate connections around games. The company is shifting from a broad community chat app to a gaming-centric platform amid changes like staff layoffs and increased regulatory scrutiny.
Brands are integrating gaming into their advertising strategies through interactive ad formats. Disney launched advergames on Hulu and ESPN, allowing viewers to engage in trivia and rapid-fire games linked to brands. Amazon introduced interactive trivia ads that offer quiz-like experiences and incentives like shopping credits. Discord embraced "sponsored quests," enabling users to earn rewards while participating in brand-related gaming activities. This trend reflects the growing acceptance of gaming, with consumer spending on mobile games recently surpassing $20 billion.
Discord Activities allows game developers to launch games and apps directly on the platform. Given Discord's large, engaged gaming community and its social features, this initiative has significant potential to reshape web-based gaming. Previous attempts at integrating social elements with gaming have been met with mixed success. Discord's advantage lies in its existing gaming audience and integrated social features, which create immersive gaming experiences. Developers are encouraged to design games that leverage Discord's unique social channels and engage with the platform's community.
Discord reduced its websocket traffic by 40% through two key optimizations. Firstly, it replaced its existing compression algorithm, zlib, with zstandard, achieving higher compression ratios and shorter compression times. It further improved performance by implementing streaming compression for zstandard, allowing it to utilize historical data for better compression of small payloads. Secondly, it introduced Passive Sessions v2, which only sends updates about changes in server information instead of sending complete snapshots.