Earlier today, Discord pushed out an update that now allows you to access the voice chat of your Discord servers via ingame overlay. Currently 17 games, including Rocket League, World of Warcraft and more, are whitelisted to work with the overlay. The feature is currently only available on Windows Operating Systems.

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiuhkusxLJQ&width=440&height=250[/embedyt]

After I enabled the overlay in my user settings as shown in the video above (User Settings -> Overlay), a small Discord icon in the top left appeared when I started Rocket League. The icon also shows you the shortcut to open up the overlay. You can change the key combination at any time in your Discord user settings.

After toggling the overlay by using your assigned shortcut a list of your servers and associated voice channels will open up.

You also can customize settings like when to display usernames by clicking on the cogwheel in the top right of the overlay. When I used the toggling for the overlay it took up to 1 or 2 seconds for it to appear. Also it seems that enabling the overlay feature can trigger your anti-virus software. Since this feature is still new, improvements to the tool is likely.

Why does this update matter for streamers? This tool allows for a couple of things. First, a seamless way to jump around voice channels while remaining in the game. As a streamer, interruptions to gameplay and the flow of a stream, such as tabbing out to get into a voice chat, can cause new viewers to search for another stream. Streamers can also use this tool to display who exactly is talking. This is especially useful when there are multiple people in the voice channel. Your viewers may not know who exactly the people are, but they will at least be able to distinguish names and make it easier for them to follow what is occurring in the stream. This feature can also serve to promote your own community Discord.

How are your experiences with the new Discord ingame overlay? Let us know in the comments below or in StreamerSquare’s own Discord.

For more detailed information and the full list of supported games check out this post in the Discord Help Center.