Xbox is the first gaming console to support voice chat on Discord, a popular online communication apps primarily used in PC gaming. Most of the time, in-game chatting services are nowhere near the quality of a Discord connection – the latency is a lot higher and the voice quality is generally bad. This is a major issue for console players that play competitive FPS games like COD: Warzone, PUBG or Fortnite.
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In a blog posted by Xbox this week, the new feature was detailed to assist Xbox users connect and chat using the service rather than the defaulted in-game service. Voreis said Xbox players could chat with anyone on Discord through voice channels or group calls directly from their console, not only others playing on Xbox.
The app overlay will support adjusting incoming volume and switching between Discord Voice and Xbox game chat, just like on the desktop app. It is currently only available for members of the Xbox Insiders programme, which can be installed from the console Store. However, it will soon roll out to all users.
Discord is one of the most popular third-party voice chat apps for PC gamers, allowing them to communicate in-game and while switching between titles. With an increasing number of games supporting cross-play, many console gamers on Xbox and PlayStation have been calling for Discord voice chat support to connect with their friends playing on PC. As it stands, they have to download Discord on their mobile phone to use its voice chat feature, which is not ideal when using headphones.
Interestingly, Sony is a minority investor in Discord and the service is expected to be released to PlayStation within months as well.
While Discord has been available on Xbox and PlayStation for some time, it has lacked voice chat support — the most important feature.
