Discord is testing a lightweight mode to free up resources while gaming

But a Chromium-based design means it can only be so efficient.

Discord

Discord is working on a new mode for its social platform that it says might be less resource-intensive. Screenshots of an option called Game Mode began circulating on social media over the weekend. The description shown for the Game Mode toggle states that it will "Reduce Discord's CPU and GPU usage while a game is running." By making the chat platform less resource-intensive, concurrently running software should be able to run more smoothly.

Today, the company confirmed on X that this experimental mode will begin rolling out to its users next week. The brief official announcement about Game Mode added that Discord is "aiming to add more resource-saving features over time."

Discord is based on the Electron web app framework, which uses Javascript and Chromium for creating software. The open-source Chromium, which is the basis for Google's Chrome and several other browsers, is not known as the most efficient tool for web development. A feature like Game Mode could offer some performance improvements, especially while also running a beefy AAA game on the same machine, but there may only be so far that Discord will be able to streamline on its current architecture.