Microsoft is in exclusive talks to buy Discord for the princely sum of €10 billion. That's €2.5 billion more than what it recently paid to acquire ZeniMax Media, Bethesda's parent company. However, I can't help but think that Sony should try to buy Discord, not Microsoft. While Microsoft is unlikely to have the capital on hand, buying Discord would help Sony solve one of the PS5's most disappointing aspects: its mediocre voice chat. Objectively speaking, voice chat on PS5 doesn't compare very favorably to Xbox. You can argue until you're sad that it's "just as good", but you'd be wrong. Anyone who switches between the two platforms on a regular basis can attest that the PlayStation offering falls short of Microsoft's implementation. But there is a good reason for it. It's easy to forget that Microsoft first introduced voice chat on the original Xbox in 2002. It then took voice chat a step further by introducing Party Chat (or cross-game chat) into the Xbox 360 era in 2008 and has continued to modify since then (you can now adjust the individual audio level for each group member, for example). Since then, Microsoft has invested heavily in its online services, which has been helped by users paying to play online. Therefore, he had the time and resources to perfect his offer. Sony, meanwhile, has taken a different approach to online chat. Online was free on PS3, but Party Chat never materialized on Sony's platform due to restrictions with console memory. PlayStation fans had to wait for the PS4 for Party Chat to finally appear on the console, which coincided with the company making PlayStation Plus mandatory for online play.
Skype your life
![Skype]()
(Image credit: Microsoft) While this is certainly a must-have addition to PlayStation's suite of online services, Microsoft has gone one step further to drastically improve voice chat on Xbox One. The Redmond-based company bought Skype in 2011 for $8.500 billion and quickly implemented voice platform technology on Xbox One to drastically improve audio quality. The difference in audio quality from the Xbox 360 to the Xbox One was stark, which is why I think Sony could benefit greatly from the Discord acquisition. It's an established platform that excels at instant messaging, voice and video chat, and its technology would do wonders for PlayStation users. This would help PlayStation close the aforementioned development gap with the Xbox almost instantly.
Powered by Nitro
![Discordia]()
(Image credit: Discord) If Sony owned Discord, it could immediately supercharge its current online offering by incorporating the same technology that powers Discord so successfully. Audio quality could be improved, as well as stability; your messaging system could finally work as expected, instead of being cumbersome and inconsistent; and it could even pave the way for video chat on PlayStation, which rose to prominence during the pandemic. After all, a lot of people have bought the new PS5 camera, but there's not much you can do with it as-is. Discord voice chat has a number of desirable features that would benefit PlayStation users, such as echo cancellation, noise reduction, and automatic gain control options. Voice chat also doesn't require constant invitations to start conversations, just join an always-on voice channel and drop in and out as you please. Considering how hard it is to create Party Chat on PS5 right now, that would be a blessing in itself. Discord would also give Sony access to hundreds of communities to immediately engage with, most of which are focused on gaming. Sony's developer teams could have official Discord channels for players to meet up with, and this would provide a much more efficient platform for spreading news and updates than using Activity Cards and the PS5's home screen. With Sony set to remove PlayStation Communities from PS4, which is essentially a tribute to the many channels and servers on Discord where communities thrive, Sony wouldn't need to create another feature that essentially lives and dies on a closed platform. Making it accessible via Discord would require less maintenance and increase its chances of being used much more. But sadly, it seems like Microsoft is already a step ahead of its closest competitor, mainly because it has the financial clout to do so. But also because Microsoft is well aware that when you buy a business, you not only own a successful business and brand, you now get to use the tools, technology, and people that have helped make these businesses so successful in place. Of start.
Money talks
![Discord y Microsoft]()
(Image credit: Discord and Microsoft) To be fair, it makes sense that Microsoft is attacking Discord so hard. Xbox and PC are now closely aligned thanks to Xbox Game Pass, and Xbox head Phil Spencer has suggested that Microsoft would be open to "crosstalk" between Xbox Party Chat and Discord for some time. You'd like to think that Microsoft would make sure this quickly becomes a reality and also use Discord to become a gathering place for the Xbox community, something its failed streaming service Mixer has never been able to achieve. I also wouldn't be surprised to see Discord Nitro, the paid tier of communication app that gives users an enhanced experience, integrated as part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. This would certainly encourage more PC users to also sign up for Xbox Game Pass and introduce Discord to more Xbox users as well. Microsoft has already offered three months of Discord Nitro to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers as part of its "Perks" program, so the precedent is there. Ok, maybe it's a good thing if Microsoft buys Discord after all… Sorry Sony. Today's best Xbox Game Pass deals