Discord is now paying users with ‘Orbs’ to watch ads and play games

Announced last week via blog post, Discord has begun testing its own digital currency called “Discord Orbs,” which are virtual rewards for completing so-called “Quests” on the Discord platform.

Discord says they’re dedicated to making Quests the “most authentic, engagement-centric advertising product in gaming,” which currently come in two types: Play Quests and Video Quests.

With Play Quests, you can either play the advertised game for a specified length of time while logged into the Discord desktop app, or stream with the desktop app to at least one friend in a voice channel for a specified length of time. With Video Quests, you must fully watch the advertised video in the desktop or browser app.

Discord

The Orbs you earn through Quests can be spent in the Shop to buy things like Nitro credits, badges, avater decorations, profile effects, and more. As of this writing, you can’t buy gifts, recurring Nitro or Boosting subs, or partner-branded shop items. So far, main benefit of Orbs seems to be the ability to try Nitro without paying for a subscription.

Orbs are currently rolling out to select users around the world; over time, “many more” will gain access to Orbs as rewards. However, it’s unclear whether Orbs will eventually roll out to all Discord users and, if so, what the timeline will look for the full rollout.