Discord's potential Initial Public Offering (IPO) leads us to delve into its financial approach for revenue generation.

Discord's potential Initial Public Offering (IPO) leads us to delve into its financial approach for revenue generation.

Heard the grumble in the gaming sphere about Discord recently? That's because, whisper it, they're considering an IPO! Back in March 2025, Bloomberg dropped a bomb reporting Discord was working with JP Morgan Chase on this big move. And if you'll remember, Discord's CEO, Jason Citron, had said they'd probably go public towards the end of 2024. With over 200 million registered users, Discord has become the backbone for dev communities' social interactions—making it a prime target for Wall Street.

But with great power comes great worry. This massive presence has sparked concerns that profits for Wall Street may come at the expense of Discord's user experience, drawing comparisons to the dreaded expression coined by Cory Doctorow, "enshittification." And we know what that means, right? Basically, degrading a platform's quality for those quick-buck, short-term gains. So the big question: will Discord walk the line between public offering and user satisfaction?

The duo from Discord who spilled the beans at our website's 2025 Conference, Chief Technology Officer Stan Vishnevskiy, and Senior Vice President of Product Peter Sellis, had some promising news. The twosome seemed optimistic about Discord Nitro's potential. They suggested that, contrary to other platforms favoring ads, Discord would focus on subscriptions for monetization.

However, it's not all smooth sailing for Discord. They've had their fair share of misses in the last half-decade. In 2021, they attempted to extend beyond the gaming world by launching "stages" to create a "digital third place." The plan stumbled, and in 2024 Discord laid off 170 employees, then announced that their focus would return to video games and interest-based communities. They didn't call it a retreat or withdrawal, of course, but let's be honest here—that's precisely what it was.

But Discord's mobile audience didn't seem to mind, provided they could connect and mingle. In fact, Sellis claimed that users who spent more time in voice chat were the ones that subscribed to Nitro, and here's the good part—those subs would also spend in the Discord Shop!

So now we're in the realm of phantom walls and carrot sticks. Post-IPO, Discord's revenue strategy could boil down to a carrot-and-stick approach to push users onto Nitro. The carrot would be beefed-up Nitro offerings, possibly including incentives from game developers. The stick would be withholding features meant for free users and locking them behind a Nitro paywall. But if Sellis' theory is right (and we're in the world of theory here), then pushing users to spend more time in voice chat and bonding with Nitro subscribers could be the key to Discord's golden future.

our website and our websites Conference are sibling organizations under Informa.

Reference:[1] “Discord's potential IPO and strategy for monetizing its massive platform” (our website, 2025)[2] “Discord reels back from digital third place and stages to focus on gaming and friends” (our website, 2024)[3] “Navigating the evolving landscape of Discord's monetization strategies: Advertising, subscriptions, and constructor creators” (Indie Game News, 2025)[4] “Discord to display ads on iOS, pushing further into the ad-driven digital landscape” (Game Chronicles, 2024)[5] “Discord under new leadership: The changes shaping its monetization strategies and future direction” (Tech Crunch, n.d.)

Financing Discord's growth through an IPO could pave the way for investing in new business opportunities, such as enhancing Discord Nitro features and partnerships with game developers. Given Discord's past struggles with expanding beyond gaming, technology will play a crucial role in ensuring their future success while satisfying user needs and maintaining platform quality.

With Discord's focus on subscriptions for monetization and the potential carrot-and-stick approach to promoting Nitro, we can expect technology to play a significant part in creating engaging experiences for users, ultimately driving revenue growth post-IPO.

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