Discord’s CTO Addresses User Concerns Amid Leadership Changes

Discord co-founder and CTO Stanislav Vishnevskiy has expressed his awareness of user concerns regarding the platform’s future, especially in light of recent leadership changes. With reports of an upcoming IPO and the announcement that his co-founder, Jason Citron, will recently stepping down hand leadership of the company over to Humam Sakhnini, a former Activision Blizzard executive, many Discord users are understandably apprehensive about the platform’s direction.

\”I understand the anxiety and concern,\” Vishnevskiy stated in a recent call with Engadget. \”I think the things that people are afraid of are what separate a great, long-term focused company from just any other company.\” He emphasized that the fear of Discord potentially failing to prioritize its users is a topic of ongoing discussion within the company.

Vishnevskiy noted, \”I’m definitely the one who’s constantly bringing up enshittification\” during internal meetings. He clarified that while building a strong business and monetizing a product is essential for reinvestment and improvement, it is crucial to approach these strategies thoughtfully.

Reflecting on Discord’s past, Vishnevskiy recounted a previous identity crisis that ultimately strengthened the company’s understanding of its product’s significance to users. He referred to the company’s briefly operated a curated game store launch of a storefront in 2018, which was followed by a swift shut it down less than a year later in 2019 withdrawal from that initiative. Vishnevskiy described this period as a moment of reckoning for Discord.

\”We call it embracing the brutal facts internally,\” he explained. When Vishnevskiy and Citron founded Discord, they envisioned a platform that would serve not only as a communication tool for friends but also as a game distribution hub. However, after investing a year into that aspect of the business, they quickly realized it was not progressing as hoped.

In response to this setback, Discord shifted its focus to its Nitro subscription service, embracing a broader user base that extended beyond gaming communities. Since its introduction in 2017, Nitro has evolved to offer various perks, allowing users to enhance their experience on the platform while supporting their favorite servers. The $3 per month Basic tier enables users to utilize custom emojis and stickers across any server, as well as upload files up to 50MB. The regular tier, priced at $10 per month, includes features such as 4K streaming and 500MB uploads, while the core functionalities of Discord remain free.

Vishnevskiy described Nitro as a \”phenomenal business,\” but acknowledged that the decision to expand beyond gaming introduced new challenges. \”It wasn’t clear exactly who we were building for, because now Discord was a community product for everyone, and that drove a lot of distractions,\” he said.

This sense of mission drift was further complicated by the explosive growth surge in Discord’s user base during the pandemic, as more individuals turned to the platform to maintain social connections during lockdowns. \”It covered up all the things that we didn’t fully clarify about how we want to approach things,\” Vishnevskiy noted. \”We came out stronger. A lot of people were introduced to Discord, and it’s their home now, but it’s probably part of what made it take longer to realize some of the decisions we made at the time weren’t right.\”

One of those decisions involved a brief engagement with the Web3 movement in 2021. In November of that year, Citron tweeted a screenshot an unreleased Discord build that included integrations for two crypto wallet applications. This announcement triggered significant backlash, with users threatening to cancel their Nitro subscriptions if the company proceeded with the integration. Just two days later, Citron issued a statement confirming that Discord would not move forward with the feature.

Vishnevskiy explained, \”We weren’t trying to chase a technology. It was about allowing people to use Discord in a certain way, and that came with a lot of downsides. We were trying to do some integrations to limit some scams and actually do right by users and make people safer. But we really underestimated the sensitivity the general user base had to the topic of NFTs, and we did not do a really good job at explaining what we were trying to do.\”

According to reporting from that period, Discord’s employees played a significant role in the company’s decision to reverse course. An internal server composed of workers and game studio representatives reportedly erupted in response to the proposed implementation.

Looking back, Vishnevskiy credited the company’s employees, many of whom have been with Discord for a decade, for guiding leadership in the right direction over the years. He mentioned instances where employees approached him and Citron to question certain decisions, stating, \”sometimes, they’ve pushed us to do things [Jason and I] didn’t think we should be doing. I think that’s an amazing asset to have. This product is built by people who love it and use it.\”

As Discord emerged from the pandemic, the company announced last year that it would refocus on gaming. This strategic shift will prioritize \”simple things\” such as app performance and usability over the development of new features. In March, users experienced this new approach with the release of a redesign of its PC overlay that improved compatibility with anti-cheat systems like BattleEye, allowing for greater integration with popular games on Discord. Additionally, the update introduced three new UI density options, providing users with more control over the app’s appearance.

Looking ahead, Discord aims to be particularly thoughtful about its approach to artificial intelligence. The company has implemented AI in various areas, such as partnering with Krisp AI in 2019 to enhance call quality through noise cancellation. However, it has also discontinued experiments that did not yield satisfactory results. \”What we’ve found is that a lot of these things did not work well enough to be in the product,\” Vishnevskiy remarked, referencing features like AutoMod.

Currently, moderators can use a tool to filter specific words and phrases, but the initial vision for this feature included an AI component designed to assist admins in managing large servers. Despite developing a version powered by a large language model, the company has yet to release it due to its tendency to make errors. Discord also experimented briefly experimented with a built-in chatbot named Clyde, which utilized technology from OpenAI, but discontinued it less than a year later. Although the company did not provide a reason for the shutdown, user feedback indicated that Clyde often produced unexpected responses, leading to its removal.

Vishnevskiy stated, \”We’re constantly retrying some of those ideas with modern models. No timeline on any of this because we will not ship until we think it’s a good fit for the product,\” emphasizing that the company is cautious about adopting AI simply because it is a trend.

In terms of future initiatives, Vishnevskiy highlighted Discord’s commitment to supporting game developers, particularly regarding game discovery. He noted that many of the most popular games on Discord today are the same ones that gained traction on the platform a decade ago. To address this, Discord is introducing a new Orbs currency system, allowing users to earn rewards by engaging with interactive ads, playing games, or streaming gameplay to friends on Discord. While this initiative aims to enhance revenue, Vishnevskiy believes it aligns user interests with those of developers by providing users with incentives for their time and attention.

While the concept appears user-friendly, there are questions about how Discord plans to make this system accessible to smaller game studios. Currently, many of the publishers collaborating with Discord are promoting releases that already have significant visibility. For instance, while fans of Marvel Rivals may appreciate the opportunity to earn an Ultron avatar decoration for their Discord, a game with 147,000 concurrent players on Steam is not necessarily in need of additional promotion.

Vishnevskiy refrained from discussing specific plans regarding a potential IPO but reassured users about Discord’s long-term vision. \”Discord is something that is meant to be a durable company that has a meaningful impact on people’s lives, not just now but in 10 years as well,\” he stated. \”That’s the journey that Hammond joined and signed up for too. We are long-term focused. Our investors are long-term focused.\”

While Vishnevskiy and Discord’s veteran employees have gained valuable insights from

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