I spend more time in Discord than I do in Steam these days, and the social platform has introduced a new tool for game developers to better serve players like me. The company’s “Rich Presence” SDK enables game studios to hook their games into Discord to provide player status information as well as options to join or watch your friends.
Discord has always been able to tell you when your friends were in certain games, but it has then expected you to work with your fellow players to set up a party or separate multiplayer session. Rich presence streamlines that process and gives the game and Discord a way to work together to get you playing with your buddies in a much faster and simpler way. For example, if you have a standing crew hopping into Call of Duty: WWII every night, Discord now supports joining your friends matches in that military shooter.
“Rich Presence removes the friction PC gamers often feel when joining game sessions with their friends,” Discord chief executive Jason Citron said. “It gives players a clear at-a-glance understanding of what their friends are playing, how they are playing it, where they are at in the game, and a one-click way to jump in and join. For developers, this becomes a valuable way to help super-fans engage more deeply with other players in their games and get the word out in their game communities.”
Discord has confirmed to GamesBeat that the following games will work:
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- Call of Duty: WWII
- Payday 2
- Divinity: Original Sin 2
- Battlerite
- Duelyst
- Speedrunners
- Tooth & Tail
- Foxhole
- Unturned
- Osu
- Holodrive
- Killing Floor 2
- Brawlhalla
- Squad
- Grip
- We Need to Go Deeper
- Move or Die
- Hellion
- Ballistic Overkill
- Descenders
For companies like Call of Duty publisher Activision or Payday studio Starbreeze, this is another way to keep PC players engaged. These studios already have verified servers for their games, which is one way to stay close with the community on PC. But rich presence makes it easier to turn those engaged fans back into players with almost no hassle.
Finally, Discord is looking to get other developers into using verified servers and rich presence. It is inviting studios to apply by visiting its site.
