Summary
Microsofthas officially ended support for Skype after 22 years, choosing to focus solely on Teams moving forward. It was previously announced thatMicrosoftwould shut down Skype on May 5, but this date certainly marks a sad moment for nostalgic fans who used the once-popular platform in the past, as well as for those who have stayed committed to it over the years.
Originally launched in 2003,Skype was acquired by Microsoftin 2011 for $8.5 billion. The once-popular service did not remain central to Microsoft’s strategy over the years, however, as the company released Microsoft Teams in 2016, a service that integrates messaging and video calls on the same platform. Over the years, Microsoft’s focus on Teams grew, and Skype lost its place to other popular messaging services with video calls, such as Discord.
Now,Skype has finally been shut down. It’s unknown how many people were still using the service at the time of this report, but numbers from 2023 indicated 36 million daily users, a far cry from the 300 million customers at the peak of the service’s popularity. Fortunately, people who want to switch to Teams with their Skype account can do so, as their conversation logs and contact list will migrate automatically. It’s unknown if previous users will be able to migrate their data to other popular services, though.
Skype Shut Down After 22 Years
Fortunately, gamers who still use Skype for video calls with their friends have plenty of options to choose from, including popular services such as Discord and Zoom.Microsoft is still focused on Microsoft Teams, too, which is a business-focused communication platform, but offers video-calling capabilities similar to Skype’s, and could be a good pick for users who do not want to lose their contact list.
At the same time that Skype is facing its end, its former competitor, Discord, is thriving. Earlier this year, reports indicated thatDiscord was planning an Initial Public Offering (IPO), which could earn the company’s current owners billions of dollars. The reaction to this news was pretty negative from most of the community, with some users concerned that the IPO could lead to increased monetization on the platform. Some also think that this could mean the end of free new features, as the company would try to pursue “endless growth” to appease investors. At the time of this report, however, Discord’s IPO still does not have an official date.
