Houseparty was asocial networking service that enabled groupvideo chatting throughmobile anddesktop apps. Users received a notification when friends were online and available to group video chat.[1][2] On average, users spent more than 60 minutes per conversation on the app in group or one-on-one chats.[3] It was launched by Life on Air, Inc. in 2016[4][5] and was available oniOS,Android mobile devices,macOS andGoogle Chrome.[6] Sima Sistani was the company's chief executive officer and co-founder.[7]Epic Games announced the decision to discontinue Houseparty on September 9, 2021[8] and removed it from theapp stores on the same day. It continued to function for users who had already downloaded it until October 2021.
In early 2015, Life On Air, Inc., a team headed by founder and CEO Ben Rubin, released the live streaming appMeerkat and raised $12 million inventure capital funding fromGreylock Partners.[9][10][11][12] Following the release, the creators began developing a new app called Houseparty that moved "away from public broadcasts in favor of private chats."[13][14]
Houseparty was released to theApp Store andPlay Store in February 2016 under apseudonym.[15] It was developed over 10 months with a website redirecting to the Houseparty app in October 2016.[14] The company raised $52 million in venture capital funding fromSequoia Capital in late 2016.[16][17] It was made available on macOS in 2018.[18]
Co-founder Sistani was announced as the company's chief executive officer in March 2019 and led the acquisition of Houseparty byEpic Games later that year. Life on Air, Inc. became a subsidiary of Epic Games and the monetary terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.[19][20][21] Sistani noted that Houseparty was being used byFortnite players, so "the partnership made a lot of sense."[22]
On September 9, 2021, Epic Games announced that they were planning to shut down the Houseparty service in October of the same year,[8] having announced that the app was to be delisted immediately from mobile app stores.[25][26][27] Both the main video chatting service and the app's "Fortnite Mode" which integrated the app's video chat intoFortnite Battle Royale which was introduced in November 2020,[28] were to function as usual until the service's discontinuation.[8]
Houseparty is a "face-to-face social network" where up to eight participants can interact in a single session. Users receive a notification when friends are online and available to group video chat or float between chat rooms.[29]
During early 2019, the company partnered withEllen DeGeneres's app, "Heads Up!", which is similar to charades.[30] In the summer of 2020, Houseparty partnered withMattel to addMagic 8 Ball and the card gameUno to the app. The app contains other popular games such as Quick Draw, Chips & Guac and trivia games that can be played with friends in a video chat.[31][32]
It has been called the "virtual living room" of apps byThe New Yorker.[33]
As many countries went into lockdown during the beginning of theCOVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, the app experienced a large increase in popularity.[34] It was downloaded more than 17 million times in March 2020,[29] winning a2020 Webby Award for "Breakout of the Year".[35] In late March 2020, media outlets reported that Houseparty had beenhacked.[36] The report was denied by CEO Sistani stating that "if anyone wanted to know whether we had been hacked, it would be us."[22] According toFast Company, the app ranked first in Social Networking on theiOS App Store with 50 million downloads through April 2020.[37]
