In a surprise move, Epic Games has recently acquired Houseparty, a social video app that is popular with the teenage demographic. Many are wondering what exactly Houseparty is and what Epic is doing with social media, as its primary focus is on the unstoppable juggernaut Fortnite.
Houseparty is a mixed bag of social media technology that uses aspects of Snapchat, Facetime, and Chatroulette. Users can participate in split-screen video chat with two to eight other users. It is available on both iOS and Android, so everyone has access to it.
More importantly, there is also the ability to create private locked rooms to keep out unwanted visitors. This is essential since the app seems to currently be favored by a young crowd.
When considering the primary age group that uses Houseparty, it begins to make more sense why Epic Games would go through the trouble of a formal acquisition. If the company can link Houseparty to a user’s list of friends on the Epic Launcher, it might be able to further develop its relationship with its consumers.
Epic Games might be seeking to do what Steam does and then improve upon it. Currently, the Steam app allows for text-based chatting on mobile devices, but Houseparty would be a significant technological step-up in contrast.
For now, Houseparty has stated that the contact list between its app and Epic Games will remain separate, but as ownership transfers, this could change in the future.
Doing so is likely the end goal of Epic Games, and with good reason. In the past few years, we have seen a significant shift in how we experience video games. A short ten years ago, we played video games alone or with friends, and then, platforms like YouTube and Twitch emerged to gradually but fundamentally shift the consumption of video games as entertainment.
Twitch is an example of a social platform, as watching some of the biggest streamers like Ninja offers fans not only entertainment, but also relevant discussion. If Ninja is playing a match with a new update or weapon that shifts the meta of competitive gameplay, there is no doubt that the chat will be focusing on issues pertaining to that. Gaming on all platforms has become a social affair in the past few years with the addition of voice chat and the integration of friends lists, and Epic Games acquiring Houseparty simply looks like the next step towards streamlining everything.
For now, we simply need to sit back and see how effective the acquisition is for Epic Games.
