House party, the video chat application that Epic Games bought and integrated with yours Fortnite the gaming experience will close soon, the company announced Thursday.
The platform, which Epic bought in 2019, allows multiple people to interact via video calling. The platform’s popularity skyrocketed when the covid-19 forced global blockades, with some 17 million downloads during March 2020, the month the pandemic really began. In April, the application team announced an integration with Fortnite, allowing players in the iconic Battle Royale game to chat while they play and also stream their sessions.
However, the Company now says it’s time to go to bed at the party, stating that it can no longer “give the app or our community the attention it deserves” because it is accompanied by other projects. As a result, Houseparty will be removed from app stores “immediately”. For those who already have the app downloaded, it will continue to run until it is officially retired in October. Similarly, the functionality of the application with Fortnite the game will also remain intact until this period. Notifications built into the app will serve to alert users when the service is no longer available.
While we have to say goodbye to Houseparty, its parent company is committed to developing interesting new things to replace the soon-to-be-gone product. “So, what will be next? The team behind Houseparty is working on creating new ways to have meaningful and authentic social interactions on a metaverse scale across the entire Epic Games family. ” said the company.
Oh yeah, the metaverse: Silicon Valley’s new trick to spark interest in virtual and augmented reality markets. For game developers like Epic, VR and AR are clearly common sense investments, given their potential it totally transforms the gaming experience of the users. On this front, Epic has apparently prepared aggressively and raised $ 1 billion last year to invest in these new meta-projects, reports the Washington Post.
G / O Media may receive a commission