Jason Citron | |
|---|---|
 Citron at TechCrunch Disrupt in 2018 | |
| Born | September 21, 1984 |
| Education | Full Sail University (BS) |
| Occupations | |
| Years active | 2008-present |
Jason Citron (born September 21, 1984) [1] is an American businessman [2] who is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Discord, an instant messaging social platform. [3] He is also founder of OpenFeint, a social platform for mobile games. [4] [5]
Jason Citron was born on September 21, 1984, in San Francisco, California, into an Ashkenazi Jewish family with a strong business and technology background. [6] [7] His grandfather played a pivotal role in his early fascination with technology by giving him his first computer. [8] By the age of 13, Citron was already proficient in programming, teaching himself QBASIC and even creating his first video game. This early exposure to technology and entrepreneurship significantly shaped his future career path.
Jason Citron pursued his passion for technology by enrolling at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Game Design and Development in 2004. His time at Full Sail provided him with the technical skills and industry knowledge necessary to embark on his journey in the gaming and tech industries. The education he received laid the foundation for his future ventures, where he would combine his love for gaming with his entrepreneurial spirit.
Citron's career began with the founding of Aurora Feint, a mobile game development studio that later evolved into OpenFeint, a social platform for mobile games. [9] OpenFeint became a significant success, eventually being sold to the Japanese company GREE for $104 million in 2011. [10] [11] After this, Citron founded Hammer & Chisel, a gaming company that aimed to create high-quality mobile games. [12] However, the company pivoted when Citron noticed the need for better communication tools for gamers, leading to the creation of Discord in 2015. Discord quickly became a popular communication platform, initially among gamers but later expanding to a wider audience. [13] By 2024, under Citron's leadership, Discord had grown into a multi-billion-dollar company with over 150 million active users per month.
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OpenFeint was a social platform for mobile games for devices running on Android or iOS. It was developed by Aurora Feint, a company named after a video game by the same developers. The platform consisted of an SDK for use by games, allowing its various social networking features to be integrated into the game's functionality. OpenFeint was discontinued at the end of 2012.
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