Sony has announced a new partnership with online communication platform, Discord, and plans to “bring the Discord and PlayStation services closer together on console and mobile starting early next year”.

Discord and Sony, live together in perfect harmony

Jim Ryan, head honcho over at Sony Interactive Entertainment, made the announcement in an official blog post. “At PlayStation, we’re constantly looking for new ways to enable players around the world to connect with one another, form new friendships and communities, and share fun experiences and lasting memories,” he says.

Ryan outlines that Sony Interactive Entertainment has made a “minority investment” into Discord’s Series H round of funding. How much exactly isn’t specified, nor is the extent to which Discord will be built into the PlayStation experience. But there’s certainly enough here for some reasonable speculation. For example, we could potentially see a real PlayStation-specific Discord app, or even in-game chat integration. On the other hand, the pairing could be as minor as connecting your PS and Discord friend lists to make communicating across platforms a little less obtuse. We’ll have to wait and see.

Discord has become the place to communicate for gamers, particularly those playing on PC, and its lack of any real console integration has always made it a bit obtuse for console players. With Sony getting the ball rolling, Microsoft and even Nintendo could, in a perfect scenario, follow suit. This would make it significantly easier for friends playing crossplay games on separate consoles who prefer Discord over in-game voice chat to communicate without several different devices going at once.

Discord’s been in the news a fair bit recently. It was reportedly in talks with Microsoft over a $10 million acquisition last month, but turned the offer down, deciding to remain independent. Sony’s (and no doubt others’) investment will help the platform remain so, allowing it to develop and grow with minimal external interference.