This may be a good chance for Element to gain popularity, at least if they can release some gamer-targeting features.

However, Discord is not profitable despite their massive amounts of revenue. You can’t use a platform for free and expect it to remain free forever, unless it’s run by volunteers like many Fediverse servers are (and even those risk collapsing if they gain any form of popularity, because they don’t have teams of dedicated network administrators to keep up with growth or optimise for server cost).

Pay for the services you use, especially if those services include high-bandwidth features like streaming or hosting media. If you don’t, these companies will find a way to make a profit out of you, or disappear completely.