After the platform announced in late May that it would experiment with a new virtual reward system, Discord is now launching it to the public. The purpose of rewards, known as Orbs, is to make people click on more interactive ads.
Users earn orbs after completing the quest. This includes interacting with product or game ads to retrieve virtual items. Users can redeem orbs of digital items from Discord's Shop, including 3 days of Nitro credits, ORB-themed profile badges, profile effects, and avatar decorations.
According to Discord, Orbs is popular among testers, spending millions of betas earning and spending it during the seven-week beta period. Other company data show that first-time purchases at the shop increased 16 times, with 79% of participants having never purchased anything before.
Discord is said to be considering an IPO and wants to show potential partners that they can maintain a scalable ad model. Discord is to market orbs to advertisers as an easier way to launch a quest campaign without the need to create your own rewards.
Orbs experiments are also intended to attract users who don't have a subscription to try Nitro. However, it is unclear whether subscriptions have increased. The company did not respond to requests for comment, but said 70% of Orb participants were non-members.