Discord is easily one of the most well known gamer-focused communication platforms out there. Before it launched four years ago (and for a while after), voice and text chat clients like TeamSpeak, Mumble, and Ventrilo reigned supreme.
Gamers used these platforms to organize raids with their World of Warcraft guilds, team up for heated, competitive matches of Counter-Strike or Team Fortress 2, or even just to hang out and discuss their lives. Since Discord gained traction, though, virtually all of those platforms have fallen by the wayside and declined in popularity. It isn't hard to see why, either; you only need to open up Discord to see the many benefits it offers over its competitors.
The ability to create a server for free, share GIFs and full videos, easily manage user roles and permissions, and even access a wide array of free games with Discord's "Nitro" subscription service are all major boons for gamers, while likely also being the main driving forces behind its more widespread "mainstream" appeal.
Thanks to information provided by a Discord spokesperson, we can now quantify the platform's success in a more concrete manner. Since the service's founding in 2015, the individual claims, it has gained over 250 million registered users. For reference, that's roughly the same number of players that Fortnite currently boasts.
A sizable chunk of this growth happened in the last year. According to the spokersperson, as of May 2018 (this time last year), Discord's userbase only sat at around 130 million registered users.
Of the previously-mentioned 250 million users, 56 million use Discord every month. Those individuals send a combined total of 850 million messages per day, which probably won't come as a surprise to anyone who has visited a popular "verified" game server (usually hosted by the developers). Speaking of verified servers, the 7 most popular official Discord servers are dedicated to Fortnite, SpellBreak, PUBG Mobile, Clash Royale, Minecraft, ZombsRoyale, and Rainbow 6 Siege.
Naturally, all of this growth has forced Discord's executives to hire some extra employees to help with the workload – the company has grown by "over 50%" in a single year, employing 165 employees in total.
It's impossible to tell what the future holds for Discord (even the king of an industry can fall someday), but given its track record, it's probably safe to say the service will continue to grow and prosper for years to come.