Fornite and Unity Engine developer Epic Games has acquired social platform Houseparty.

Dubbed as a "face to face" social network, Houseparty lets groups of people chat through voice and video in a chatroom style setting. It's available on Android and iOS, as well as MacOS and Google Chrome.

The app will still remain available as a standalone platform, which means Houseparty and Epic accounts will not be connected and user data will not be shared between them.

Positive social interactions

"Joining Epic is a great step forward in achieving our mission of bringing empathy to online communication," said Sima Sistani, co-founder and CEO of Houseparty.

"We have a common vision to make human interaction easier and more enjoyable, and always with respect for user privacy."

CEO of Epic Games, Tim Sweeney, added: "Houseparty brings people together, creating positive social interactions in real time. By teaming up, we can build even more fun, shared experiences than what could be achieved alone."

This story originally appeared on InfluencerUpdate.biz