Discord Now Lets You Buy and Gift Video Game Skins

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Discord is rolling out a major new commerce feature that lets users buy and gift in-game cosmetics without ever leaving the platform, starting with Marvel Rivals.

Players can now browse, purchase, wishlist, and gift skins directly from a new store page inside the game’s official Discord server. No game client required.

Gifting Is the Big Opportunity

According to Discord cofounder and CTO Stan Vishnevskiy, gifting is already a powerful behavior on the platform, representing 20% of all purchases on a normal day, and spiking past 30% during the holidays. Extending that behavior to games creates a new revenue stream for developers and a frictionless way for users to show generosity.

As Vishnevskiy puts it:

“We all have friends that play games we don’t play. This gives developers a chance to reach the friends of players — who could now become customers.”

Discord says it will take a revenue cut, but didn’t disclose details. The focus, they emphasize, is on providing “incremental value” to studios.

A Simpler Way to Give (or Get) Skins

For Marvel Rivals, buying cosmetics for yourself has always been straightforward, but buying for someone else? Not so much. Discord’s new shop removes the friction entirely. If your friend loves a specific hero or skin, you can now buy it directly from their wishlist on their profile.

Why Start With Marvel Rivals? Easy: it has the largest gaming server on Discord, with over 4 million members, frequent events, and a highly engaged community.

The gifting shop is now available now in US currency and only on desktop with an expansion to mobile and consoles is already “top of mind.” The feature will eventually roll out beyond AAA titles to smaller studios.

As media platforms fight to keep users inside their ecosystems, Discord insists this isn’t about retention gimmicks, but about enhancing the social fabric already happening on the platform. “Your friend loves this character,” Vishnevskiy says. “If it’s their birthday, they’d appreciate this. It’s something uniquely Discord can do.”