Discord adds a new, Steam-like Games Tab hub

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The gamer-centric chat software Discord displays in its user list the games your friends and channel-mates are playing. It's a handy way to tell what your pals are up to but not a terribly efficient system, especially if you have a lot of friends or haunt multiple servers. To address that shortcoming, Discord has added a new "Games Tab" function that enables users to more easily see what's going on, and to join in on the action.

Games Tab is basically a hub that pulls all game-specific information from across multiple channels and servers together in one place. It displays what people are playing and what they've played previously, and also incorporates game-specific news, integrated game launching, and other features, like spectating or multiplayer invites, that can be enabled through Discord's "rich presence." Spotify integration is in there too, so if you'd rather just kick back and share some tunes, that's an option as well: I can see that James, for instance, is currently grooving to the Samorost 3 soundtrack. (Get back to work, James.)

Discord's improvements to its game integration features arrive just behind Valve's big upgrade to Steam's chat functionality—by all appearances, an obvious attempt to muscle in on Discord's turf. I wouldn't necessarily view this as a pushback (it takes time to make these things happening, so Games Tab was certainly in the works long before Steam announced the Valve chat overhaul) but it is interesting to see how everyone is headed in more or less the same direction.

Discord also rolled out a new Colorblind Mode today, a step that it said will make the platform "more inclusive to everyone."

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.