Discord is primarily known as a chat app, allowing gamers to seamlessly communicate with their friends as they play games. However, the service does offer a few additional perks, like Discord Nitro, and now one more function is being prepped for it.

Discord will start allowing users to livestream their gameplay to a select group. In fact, this new service, called 'Go Live,' is limited to a maximum of ten users. In comparison to big YouTube streamers who might have thousands or even millions of views on a single video, Discord's service is intended for small-scale streaming to friends without going public.

Discord will offer the opportunity to stream games at 1080p and up to 60FPS for free through its basic service. Players who want all the bells and whistles can upgrade to Discord Nitro, Discord's premium subscription service. The service already granted players access to a wide range of games while also helping to support Discord, but it will begin offerring additional streaming perks, allowing players to stream up to 4K video footage. At this time, the service is available for $9.99 a month or $99.99 per year.

discord streaming friends service

Although it has a more narrow focus on streaming to a small group of people, Discord has plenty of competition in the video streaming field. The PS4 and Xbox One both offer the ability to stream video of one's gameplay. In addition, PC services like Steam also offer live streaming to friends. Due to this, Discord may see its biggest competition from Steam, but considering that both services offer the feature for free, players may very well end up using both depending upon who they want to stream to.

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Most streamers these days are focused on getting more viewers, not fewer. Recently, Fortnite streamer Ninja, arguably one of the top streamers of Twitch, left the platform for Mixer. Even with his absence, however, there are still plenty of Twitch streamers doing well for themselves with millions of subscribers.

Given the recent controversies involving streaming platforms and animal abuse, one can only hope that doesn't happen on Discord's service. However, the company has been vigilant about pulling down material in the past that violated its terms, including a Final Fantasy 14 Discord channel due to adult content.

Discord's Go Live service launches August 15th.

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Source: Engadget