![]() It looks like the three core members of the development team were forced to leave the company, as Luiga confirmed that these developers had not been working at the company since the end of last year and their leaving was "involuntary". Luiga also claimed that the reason for dissolving the association is that "it no longer represents the ethos it was founded on". One of the editors of the studio, Luiga, shared the news via a blog post, saying that the ZA/UM Cultural Association has already been dissolved even though he still encourages people to organize. Three key members of the development team behind Disco Elysium, including lead writer Robert Kurtwiz, lead of art Aleksander Rostov, and writer Helen Hindpere, "involuntarily" left the company at the end of last year, according to Martin Luiga, a founding member of the ZA/UM Cultural Association At this time, we have no further comment to make other than the ZA/UM creative team’s focus remains on the development of our next project, and we are excited to share more news on this with you all soon." And bored users shifted to audio-based social networking on apps like Clubhouse or Twitter Spaces.UPDATE (10/04): In a statement given to DualShockers following the publication of this piece, Studio ZA/UM shared: "Like any video game, the development of Disco Elysium was and still is a collective effort, with every team member’s contribution essential and valued as part of a greater whole. Facebook also started to eat Houseparty’s lunch with its debut of drop-in video chat “Rooms” last year, which offered a similar group video experience. Zoom, which had established itself as an essential tool for remote work, became a tool for hanging out with friends after-hours, as well. But as the pandemic wore on, other video chat experiences gained more ground. While it may seem odd to close an app that only last year experienced a boost in usage due to the pandemic, it appears the COVID bump didn’t have staying power.Īt the height of lockdowns, Houseparty had reported it had gained 50 million new sign-ups in a month’s time as users looked to video apps to connect with family and friends while the world was shut down. More social functionality and new experiences are also being built into Fortnite’s user-generated content platform, Create Mode. They also worked on building out new social experiences, which have ranged from the social RSVP functions for Fortnite’s global events, like the recent Ariana Grande concert, to the upcoming “Operation: Sky Fire” event for collaborating quests and other game mechanics. In terms of social products, Houseparty’s technology now underpins all of Fortnite voice chat and the features they built are widely available for free to developers through Epic Games Services. But some of the “multiple, larger projects” Epic Games has in the works remain undisclosed, we’re told. Facebook, too, claims the metaverse is the next big gambit for social networking, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg having described it as an “embodied internet that you’re inside of rather than just looking at.”ģ/6 The metaverse vision and products we’re working on at are also about shared experiences, but in a more rich form than 2D video - one that's better positioned to shape the next generation of the internet.Īn Epic Games spokesperson tells TechCrunch the Houseparty team has worked on (and continues to work on) a number of other projects that focus on social. The “metaverse” is an increasingly used buzzword that references a shared virtual environment, like those provided by large-scale online gaming platforms such as Fortnite, Roblox and others. The company’s announcement hinted that those social features would be designed and built at the “metaverse scale.” While none of the Houseparty team members are being let go as a result of this move, we’re told, they will be joining other teams where they will work on new ways to allow for “social interactions” across the Epic Games family of products. That said, all Epic Games would say today is that the Houseparty team could no longer give the app the attention it required - a statement that indicates an executive decision to shift the team’s focus to other matters. But the reality is that Epic Games may have something larger in store beyond just video chat. The company didn’t offer any solid insight into what, at first glance, feels like an admission of failure to capitalize on its acquisition. ![]() Now, just over two years after the acquisition was announced, and less than half a year since support for livestreaming was added to the app, Houseparty is shutting down. 8 investors discuss social gaming’s biggest opportunities
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