# Building on the Social Layer of Games: What's New from GDC 2026

DevFeed: [Building on the Social Layer of Games: What's New from GDC 2026](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/building-on-the-social-layer-of-games-what-s-new-from-gdc-2026-201.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://discord.com/blog/building-on-the-social-layer-of-games-whats-new-from-gdc-2026>)

Author: Stanislav Vishnevskiy

Published: 2026-03-09T00:00:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Discord Blog](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/discord-blog.md>)

Topics: [Discord](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/discord.md>), [SDKs](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/sdks.md>), [cross-platform](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/cross-platform.md>), [Authentication](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/authentication.md>), [Android](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/android.md>), [iOS](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ios.md>)

Tags: [audio](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/audio.md>), [authentication](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/authentication.md>), [communication](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/communication.md>), [cross-platform](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/cross-platform.md>), [developers](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/developers.md>), [discord](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/discord.md>), [features](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/features.md>), [mobile](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/mobile.md>), [performance](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/performance.md>)

## AI overview

Discord's GDC 2026 update describes improvements to its Social SDK for connecting Discord accounts with in-game accounts. New capabilities include simpler account linking, publisher-wide authentication, native mobile linking on iOS and Android, persistent message history, richer audio, cross-platform communication, and performance improvements.

## Source excerpt

At GDC 2026, Discord gives developers more ways to close the gap between connection and play.