Only Lasted Two Years, Epic Games Closed Houseparty

Houseparty, a social video chat app that was acquired by maker Epic Games in 2019. (photo: epic games)

JAKARTA - Houseparty, a social video chat application that was acquired by Fortnite maker Epic Games in 2019, is officially closed. The company said Houseparty will be discontinued in October.

The app will stop working for existing users and will be pulled from the app store starting today. Due to this move, the Fortnite Mode feature at Epic Games, which utilizes Houseparty to bring video chat to Fortnite gamers, will also be discontinued.

Founded in 2015, Houseparty offers a way for users to participate in group video chats with friends and even play games, such as Uno, trivia, Heads Up, and more.

In fact, Epic Games' goal was to integrate Houseparty with Fortnite, initially to allow gamers to view live feeds from friends while playing the game, then adding support for live streaming gameplay to Houseparty.

At the time, this integration seemed to be the ultimate goal explaining why Epic Games bought the social startup for $35 million. However, the company was reluctant to reveal more specifics about the closing of Houseparty.

TechCrunch reported on Friday, September 10, that many suspected Epic Games had failed to capitalize on its acquisition. However, Epic Games said the Houseparty team was not kicked out of the company, they would be diverted to work on other things.

They will work in social interaction across the entire Epic Games product family. The company's announcement hints that the social feature will be designed and built at the scale of the metaverse.

Metaverse is an increasingly used buzzword referring to shared virtual environments, such as those provided by large-scale online gaming platforms such as Fortnite, Roblox, and others.

In terms of social products, Houseparty's technology now supports all of Fortnite's voice chats and the features they build are widely available and free to developers through the Epic Games service.

The team will also work to build new social experiences, a social RSVP system for global Fortnite events, such as the recent Ariana Grande concert, to the upcoming Operation: Sky Fire event to collaborate on quests and other game mechanics.