Discord only exists because of Final Fantasy XI

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Discord's co-founder says that the app was created to have a better way to talk about Final Fantasy XI with friends.

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Square Enix's 2002 MMORPG Final Fantasy XI is one of the main inspirations for Discord, the world's most popular video games chat platform. In a recent interview with Japanese publication Famitsu, Discord co-creator and co-founder Stanislav Vishnevsky said that the first prototype of the app was made specifically to discuss FFXI with both written and voice chatting.

"When I was a student, I was obsessed with FF11 , and I made something like a prototype of Discord as software that could be used while playing the game. From there, I moved to California and joined a company called GREE, where I met co-founder Jason Citron. I thought it would be nice to make the communication tool we created available to even more people, so I started developing Discord in earnest," Vishnevsky said.

Skype and other programs just didn't cut it--Discord was meant to be a kind of forum/chat system that allowed for ease of use, queryable searches, and intuitive voice chatting.

"At that time, there were voice chat apps such as Skype, bulletin boards, and phone numbers. However, there was no system that allowed you to use them simply.

"We had a vision of making Discord not just a tool, but something like a 'living room where you can be with your friends.' We wanted to create a place in that living room where you could play games with your friends and share exciting moments. I think that it was because of this desire that Discord became something special."

Discord has since become so popular that both PlayStation and Xbox have integrated the app into their respective network services, despite both of them having their own dedicated party/chat systems.