Discord Announces Its Free Game Library Is Officially Going Away

In case you weren't already aware, one of the perks of the Discord Nitro subscription service was a catalog of free games tied to said service. We're using past tense here because, as announced by Discord late last week, that catalog of free games is officially going away later this year.

More specifically, the free games included as part of Discord's Nitro service will disappear on October 15th. As for why the company, which is basically used as a communication platform for gaming community hubs in much the same way as, say, Slack, is doing away with the free games, it's largely to do with the fact that... nobody bothered to play them anyway.

"We learned a lot from all of you over the last year," Discord shared in its blog post announcing the change. "Through your valuable feedback, it became clear that while we and some of you love these games, the truth is the vast majority of Nitro subscribers didn't play them."

After careful consideration, we're removing games from Nitro on October 15th, 2019.

To those who supported these games, thank you so much. Now, we're doubling down on Nitro. More fun, features, and enhancements to come.

What's next for Nitro. Read more: https://t.co/65Be1exPec pic.twitter.com/3CZI40itNy

— Discord (@discordapp) September 13, 2019

Given the sudden change, the company is offering refunds to those folks that may want to cancel their Nitro subscriptions, which clocks in at $9.99 per month. It has also clarified that games purchased through Discord are not affected; just those that came as part of Nitro service catalog. The blog post doesn't explain exactly what sort of changes will be coming to the service given the removal of a major (if largely unused) aspect of it, but the company has increased the upload size limit for subscribers in addition to promising more changes in the future.

"With this change, we have the resources to refocus," the blog states in the beginning of its section about what's coming next. "We're going to double down on making sure Nitro nails its mission: more features, fun, and enhancements for hanging out in Discord with the people you care about."

What do you think about Discord removing the Nitro games catalog? Did you have a subscription and actually play the games? Let us know in the comments, or hit me up directly on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk all things gaming! You can check out all of our previous coverage of Discord right here.