What's going on?

Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy video game chat platform Discord, presumably once they�ve finished trash-talking each other�s basements.

What does this mean?

And to think your parents thought video games weren�t a productive use of time: Discord has been the go-to for gamers everywhere during the pandemic, and it now has 140 million users to its name � twice as many as in 2019. That�s caught the eye of Microsoft, which reckons Discord would make a good fit for its gaming segment. Such a good fit, in fact, that it�s reportedly willing to pay more than $10 billion for the company � a nice bump from the $7 billion it was worth in December. Of course, whether Discord feels the same way remains to be seen: the platform might end up opting for another buyer, if not going it alone via an initial public offering.

Why should I care?

For markets: Video games aren�t playing around any more.�

Microsoft�s move is even more evidence that it�s looking to expand its games business, after having made its biggest gaming acquisition ever in the form of ZeniMax Media � owner of video game publisher Bethesda � for $7.5 billion (tweet this). And it�s not hard to see why the tech giant�s suddenly so keen: video games are expected to have made more money last year than the global movie and North American sports industries combined.

The bigger picture: Mobile games are the future.

The gaming boom isn�t lost on China�s ByteDance either: the TikTok-owner just agreed to buy Chinese games studio Moonton � famous among younger and more in-touch people for its Mobile Legends game � for $4 billion. That move will help ByteDance diversify its income streams beyond advertising, as well as secure a slice of the mobile gaming market � the biggest and, according to investment manager VanEck, fastest-growing category in the games industry.