Discord CEO steps down, replaced with former Activision Blizzard CSO as they work towards being a public company

As Discord forces in more adverts and paid customization towards becoming a public company the CEO and Co-Founder, Jason Citron, has announced they're stepping down as CEO.

Citron will be moving to become a member of the Board of Directors and Advisor to the CEO. The new CEO, starting from Monday April 28th, will be Humam Sakhnini who worked at Activision Blizzard as Chief Strategy Officer and later King (developer of Candy Crush Saga).

There's been a lot of mixed reports on Discord's plan to become a public company, with this now actually being directly confirmed by Citron in the announcement blog post noting that Sakhnini was hired to "lead Discord through our next chapter of growth and someday becoming a public company".

From the separate press release:

“Building Discord over the last decade has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. From the very beginning, our mission has been about bringing people together around games. It’s a mission I’ve dedicated my career to, and I'm confident that passing the torch to Humam is the right evolution for Discord's future. His deep gaming industry expertise and proven track record of scaling businesses while fostering genuine friendships through play and shared experiences positions us perfectly for our next phase of growth. I believe this transition will accelerate our momentum and unlock even greater possibilities for Discord, our consumers, partners, and the overall gaming ecosystem in the years ahead.” — Jason Citron, Discord Co-Founder

"I want to express my sincere gratitude to Jason Citron as he moves into a new role on the Board of Directors. We’ve worked together closely for more than a decade, and Discord is the product of his incredible vision for a new company that could redefine how gamers connect. The fact that the company has scaled to reach and delight millions and millions of people is a testament to the power of that vision. I’ve known our incoming CEO Humam Sakhnini for many years as well, and I’ve long admired his work and strategic thinking. I believe he is the ideal leader for this new phase of Discord’s history, with his deep understanding of the game business generally, and particularly the nuances of customer acquisition and modern revenue creation which are so important in today’s game business. I am looking forward to working with him to help realize Discord’s long-term potential.” — Mitch Lasky, Discord Board of Directors

“I'm incredibly excited to join Discord at such a pivotal moment. Discord stands as a massive, foundational part of the gaming ecosystem that millions of players, developers, and publishers rely on every day. What Jason and Discord co-founder and CTO Stan Vishnevskiy have built is truly remarkable — a platform with an undeniable product-market fit where hundreds of millions of people connect around their passion for gaming and shared interests. I look forward to working with Stan and Discord's talented team to scale our business while staying true to the company's core mission and the special connection it has with player communities. We're still at the beginning of gaming's impact on entertainment and culture, and Discord is perfectly positioned to play a central role in that future.” — Humam Sakhnini, Incoming Discord CEO

We all know how going public goes right? Let the enshittification commence (er — continue?). For now, Discord at least still works quite well, but I have a lot of concerns about how their work towards going public will ruin Discord as we know it.

What happens if it really does go bad? Where does everyone go for chat then? There's not exactly many other actually good (and modern feeling) options that have the range of services Discord provides.