Epic to discontinue Houseparty platform in October

Epic Games has announced that video chatting app Houseparty will be closing down next month.

The app was pulled from storefronts yesterday, but will continue to function for existing users until October.

“Since joining Epic, the Houseparty team’s social vision and core technology have already contributed to new features used by hundreds of millions of people in Fortnite and by developers around the world,” Houseparty said via a blog post.

“As a result, we can’t give the app or our community the attention that it deserves.”

Following the shutdown, the Houseparty team is now working on “new ways to have meaningful and authentic social interactions at metaverse scale across the Epic Games family.”

The Fortnite maker acquired Houseparty back in 2019 for a reported $35 million. In November last year, the app received a ‘Fortnite mode’ that let players integrate video calling into the game.

This year, Epic has also acquired 3D marketplace Sketchfab and artist platform ArtStation. The terms of both deals were not disclosed.