Epic Games is shutting down the group video chat app Houseparty in October. Epic had acquired Houseparty in 2019. The app was released by the creators of the popular Meerkat live streaming app in 2016. Houseparty had gained further popularity last year amid the Covid-19 induced lockdown.

Epic, in an official release said that “tens of millions of people around the world have used Houseparty to connect with their friends and family since the app launched in 2016.”

However, Epic has now made the decision to discontinue Houseparty in October. “The team behind Houseparty is working on creating new ways to have meaningful and authentic social interactions at metaverse scale across the Epic Games family.

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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,” Epic said in the release.

As a result of this, it is unable to give enough attention to the app or its community that it deserves, it said. Houseparty will be removed from app stores immediately, Epic had said on Thursday.

The app will continue to function for existing users until it’s shut down in October. “We’ll share additional updates as needed via in-app notifications,” it said. The Fortnite Mode in Houseparty will no longer be available for use once Houseparty shuts down in October.

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