Discord Social SDK released to integrate Discord into games, allowing developers to provide friends lists, cross-platform chat, and more in-game; console and mobile support coming soon
Discord Social SDK , a game developer kit for the chat communication tool Discord, was announced on March 17, 2025. By using the Discord Social SDK, developers can integrate basic social features into their games. Furthermore, these social features can be used by players who do not have a Discord account.
Discord Launches SDK to Power Social Infrastructure and Communications for Games
https://discord.com/blog/announcing-discord-social-sdk-to-power-game-comms
Discord Social SDK | Supercharge your in-game social with Discord - YouTube
The Discord Social SDK can add the following features to your game:
・Unified Friends List
Players will be able to access their Discord friends list while they play the game, and will be able to see their in-game friends within the Discord app, creating a consistent social experience across platforms.
・Deeplink Game Invites
Players can invite Discord friends directly from the Unified Friends List in the game. Previously, players had to communicate in advance, such as 'which server you're on' and 'how to join,' but Deeplink Game Invites allows you to join a specific party, lobby, or session directly by clicking the invitation link. Discord says that this intuitive mechanism will increase player retention and engagement, allowing players to spend more time playing rather than planning.
・Rich Presence
Rich Presence is a feature available on all platforms, including PC, consoles, and mobile, and displays the player's gameplay status on Discord in real time. Detailed information such as what game the player is playing and what activities they are doing is shared with friends, and you can also implement a function to join the game with one click from the profile. According to Discord, after a friend streams a game, 28% of users launch the same game within an hour.
・Flexible account requirements
A major feature of the Discord Social SDK is that even players who do not have a Discord account can use the above functions. It is also possible to provide players with Discord accounts with extended functions that can be used by linking their accounts.
In addition, the closed beta will include features that enable communication between different platforms, such as PC, console, and smartphone, the ability to directly link in-game chat to a specific Discord channel, and the implementation of in-game voice chat using Discord technology.
The Discord Social SDK is written in C++, supports both Unreal Engine and Unity game engines, and is available for Windows 11 and above and macOS.
Support for console platforms is also planned, with support for PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch currently in development, and support for iOS and Android is also being developed to cover the mobile market. However, the specific release dates for the console and smartphone versions are listed as 'coming soon,' and the exact dates are unknown at the time of writing.
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