Houseparty and Epic Games have come together to bring a fantastic new feature to Fortnite.
If you enjoy the popular title, then you now have the option to video chat with your friends on Fortnite by integrating the game with Houseparty.
You Can Video Chat on Fortnite Using Houseparty
In a press release, Epic Games has announced that players can not only chat to their Fortnite comrades, but they can actually see their faces too.
Thanks to Houseparty’s video chat functionality, players can hook the two apps up and broadcast video as they play. This allows you to check out your friends’ reactions when you play the game together.
Your friends will appear on the same screen that Fortnite is displayed on, in a sidebar, with each of their video broadcasts playing live. Now your team can feel more integrated than ever.
Will Video Chat Bring More Gamers to Fortnite?
The integration of Fortnite and Houseparty is a move that will undoubtedly increase the popularity of Fortnite even further.
Statista reports that, as of May 2020, Fortnite had in excess of 350 million players globally. Could the addition of video chat see the title becoming more popular than it has been since it was launched in 2017?
Epic Games, which owns both Fortnite and Houseparty, has capitalized on the social aspects of the two platforms to bring gamers a feature with genuine value. Especially considering the isolation people across the globe have felt, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Who Can Access Fortnite Video Chat?
Currently, the Fortnite/Houseparty video chat functionality is only available on PS4, PS5, and PC.
In addition to that, you will need an iOS or Android device in order to run the Houseparty app and link the two platforms together.
Which is bad news for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Switch owners, who currently can’t access the service. However, they can still claim the Rainbow Fog Wrap bonus item, which normally unlocks when you link the two accounts.
Was a Fortnite/Houseparty Collaboration Inevitable?
This move shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. In 2019, Epic Games acquired the popular video chat app, Houseparty, in what was seen as a surprise move.
What followed was speculation surrounding how the two brands saw this relationship panning out. But that wasn’t the only question on everyone’s lips. People also wanted to know if this meant the two platforms would be integrating.
In a Tweet from June 2019, Houseparty co-founder Sima Sistani alluded to the potential for integration between the two apps, but nothing was actually confirmed.
We kept hearing that people were using Houseparty to talk to their real life friends while gaming together and one game came up over and over again: Fortnite.
— sima sistani (@SimaSistani) June 12, 2019
Fortnite Video Chat Is a Bold Move for Epic Games
Now that the months-long speculation has ended, all that remains for you to do is fire up Fortnite and prepare to have the battle royale of a lifetime.
One does have to wonder, though, whether this Fortnite integration will land Houseparty in hot water with Apple. Epic doesn’t have the best relationship with Apple, thanks to the latter banning Fortnite from the iOS App Store.
Given that Epic owns Houseparty, maybe Apple will see Houseparty as being guilty by association and start waving the ban hammer in the direction of the video chat app, too.