The community chat app Discord has launched an early access program on its recently-opened digital game storefront, giving devs the ability to sell access to early builds of their game while the title is still being continuously developed.

As many developers have learned from other platforms, releasing an early access game can provide teams both with valuable feedback during the development process and a continuous stream of income to fund the game’s creation.

The Discord Early Access program is already up and running over on the Discord store, with five games in its first wave of early access titles: Descenders, Parkasarus, Kynseed, Visage, and Mad Machines.

Much like the Discord store itself, Discord Early Access also benefits from being attached directly to the chat client some game developers already use to communicate with their communities. 

“By specifically joining Discord's curated early access program, we now have a way to connect where our community lives and where they buy our games,” explains Mike Rose, director at Decenders publisher No More Robots (and former Gamasutra writer). “It's easier for players to find the games or find us or both - which is exactly what we need.”