Sony Interactive Entertainment, the gaming giant famous for making the PlayStation consoles, has bought a stake in one of the current hottest gaming startups and partnered with the startup. That startup is Discord, the VoIP and chat platform popular with gamers around the globe.

Details:

• Sony has moved to make a minority investment in Discord as part of a tie-up between both companies. The investment, of undisclosed size, is part of Discord’s Series H round which opened with a $100 million raise last December at a valuation of $7bn.

• The tie-up between Sony and Discord that brought about the investment entails the Discord chat and messaging app getting integrated on the PlayStation Network early next year. 

• The integration is beneficial to both companies, as the user base of Discord substantially overlaps with that of PlayStation console owners. Discord is the biggest gaming chat app of its kind with more than 140 million monthly users as reported by the company, and with that, a PlayStation integration seems to be one that’ll please many console owners.

• Sony  Interactive didn’t divulge much about the specifics of how Discord will be integrated into the PlayStation network. A statement from its CEO Jim Ryan offered much hype, stating that “our teams are already hard at work connecting Discord with your social and gaming experience on PlayStation Network.”

• “Our goal is to bring the Discord and PlayStation experiences closer together on console and mobile starting early next year, allowing friends, groups, and communities to hang out, have fun, and communicate more easily while playing games together.” Ryan said. 

Highlights:

• Notably, Discord’s tie-up with Sony comes shortly after the startup reportedly backed away from acquisition talks with Sony’s main gaming rival, Microsoft. It’s reported that Microsoft offered a cool $10 billion for Discord but got rebuffed by Discord which sought to stay independent and pursue an IPO for an exit.

• It seems like Sony waited to be sure that its major gaming rival wasn’t buying Discord before moving to invest in and partner with the company. 

• Before now, Sony had established itself as an investor in major gaming companies such as Fortnite maker Epic. That makes its investment in Discord very much on the par.

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