What you need to know
- Discord is one of the most popular communication platforms in the world, especially for gamers. Nearly two years ago, it was officially integrated with Microsoft's Xbox consoles, allowing Xbox users to voice chat with their friends on Discord.
- Now, starting this week, Xbox Insider Program members in the Alpha Skip-Ahead and Alpha rings can preview a new feature: watching Discord game streams. This comes after the ability to stream games to Discord calls came in September last year.
- By relinking your Xbox and Discord accounts, you'll also be able to see your Discord friends on your Xbox friends list and join their calls or streams directly from the Xbox dashboard interface.
- Notably, stream viewing coming to Xbox widens the advantage it has over PlayStation in terms of Discord integration, as it's not possible to stream to the platform or watch streams from it on Sony's consoles.
It's been nearly two years since Xbox maker Microsoft and the team behind the globally popular chat platform Discord teamed up to bring official integration of the program to Xbox consoles, and in that time, it's been built upon with a handful of different features. Most notably, the ability for Xbox users to stream the game they're playing to friends in their Discord call was added last year; soon, they'll now also be able to view streams without using a PC or mobile device to watch.
Microsoft announced the news earlier on Wednesday morning in an Xbox Wire blog post, confirming that Discord stream watching is coming in preview to members of the Xbox Insider Program in the Alpha Skip-Ahead and Alpha rings this week. Once the feature goes through some thorough testing, it will then become available for everyone — hopefully in the near future.
Based on the image of the interface that Microsoft shared in the post (visible below), you'll be able to adjust the volume of a stream you're watching or even mute it if desired, just like you can with the full-fledged Discord app on PC and mobile. You also won't need to use a separate app on your console, allowing you to access streams directly from the Xbox dashboard interface.
This isn't the only improvement coming to Discord's integration on Xbox, however. Another feature going into testing today is the ability to see what your Discord friends are playing and when they're streaming or in a call from the Xbox dashboard, as well as who they're chatting with and the name of the server they're in in the latter two cases. Provided they're in a voice channel accessible to you, you can then join it directly.
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To do this, you'll need to relink your Xbox and Discord accounts, which will give you the option to display your Discord friends in your Xbox friends list. Specifically, folks you know on Discord will appear on the right side of the friends list under the "Happening now" header.
If you're in the Alpha Skip-Ahead and Alpha rings of the Xbox Insider Program and plan to use these features, make sure you leave feedback on the experience for Microsoft as it works to refine and improve them. One place you can do this is the Xbox Insiders subreddit, a community where Microsoft notes "official Xbox staff" interact with members. You can also post to the subreddit if you're in need of support.
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Analysis: A long-awaited feature finally arrives
Xbox users have been asking for the option to watch their friends' Discord streams ever since the platform got integrated, so it's fantastic to finally see this feature make its way to consoles. Given that streaming to Discord from Xbox was introduced last September, I'm surprised that it's taken this long for stream viewership to come, but more than anything I'm just happy to see it's finally here.
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Something worth noting is that the addition of this feature further raises the advantage that Xbox has over PlayStation in terms of Discord support. While Sony recently gave PS5 users the ability to join Discord voice calls directly, it isn't possible to stream games or watch streams in the console. This, along with things like Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and day one console exclusive releases on PC, makes the Xbox ecosystem more attractive to users that PC game or interact with PC gaming communities.
