With over 150 million users Discord, the popular chat platform for gamers, made a big step forward last October and launched its own online store. We started talking about that move in August, and it seems the idea is growing on the company, because they will now be offering early access games as part of their current catalog. This allows users to enjoy titles that are still in development, and the title creators can start earning some money while receiving valuable feedback in the process.

There are several games that became popular through this model like 'Ark: Survival Evolved' and even 'Fortnite', and on Discord we will find several offerings of this kind like 'Mad Machines', 'Parkasaurus', 'Kynseed', 'Visage' or 'Descenders'. This new catalog is an interesting addition to other platform offerings such as Discord Nitro, its own subscription service that offers unlimited access to 60+ games for $9.99/month or $99/year (USD).

We reported in August this year that Discord was trying out games delivery as a service option, and today the company took a major step forward in this regard by bringing out the Discord Store to a public beta state. For all intents and purposes, the store is fully functional and all users have access to it regardless of whether you are a free user or subscribe to the Discord Nitro service. The new store is curated, and attempts to be user friendly in finding games- something that is easier with fewer games on board, as Steam users will be quick to tell you. There are a few "First on Discord" games already, and the number is bound to increase as the company will have to attract users to what is yet another game store option on the PC platform.

Going the profitable subscription route, Discord Nitro at $9.99/month or $99/year (USD) now offers 60+ games at no additional cost. This list includes smaller titles such as last year's popular horror game Soma, as well as larger AAA titles from before including Metro: Last Light Redux for what they term as a combined value exceeding $1000. For those who do not want games but wish to retain the older perks of Nitro, the new Nitro Classic at $4.99/month is for you. Lastly, for those worrying about the need for another separate launcher, the addition of Discord Library means that games from the Discord Store can be launched right from Discord itself. In a pleasant bonus, Discord Library will also allow players to launch other games regardless of where they were purchased from, although this currently is similar to adding an external game on the Steam application.

Discord is currently (maybe not so arguably as that) the most popular social gaming platform there is, and counts with millions upon millions of players (it counts some 150 million users) using its services daily. Of course, after a userbase has been defined and taken a hold of, new opportunities and ways of increasing the bottom line - while simultaneously, if possible, adding more value to that same userbase - becomes paramount to growth.

Discord thus has decided to dip its toes in the games delivery service. On the one hand, it's yet another platform for game splintering across multiple accounts and services, thus vying for app attention in our systems. On the other, it's another competitor to the juggernaut that is Steam, but comes loaded with already-implemented social features which the latter will take a long time - if at all - to correctly implement. Discord is choosing to take this time at first, with just 50,000 users enrolling in their store interface, and offering a drum-roll selection of games - which they aim to be more of a curated service than a "rolling snowstorm of titles" affair. Besides directly selling games, they'll be adding free games accessible to subscribers of Discord's Nitro service.