Babel vs Houseparty: cross-language group chat vs the app that shut down
Houseparty was acquired by Epic Games in 2019, peaked at 50 million+ users during COVID lockdowns in 2020, and was shut down in October 2021. The app is no longer available — removed from stores, accounts deactivated, the planned Fortnite integration cancelled. Houseparty represented the appeal of casual group video hangouts: drop in, see your friends, hang out without an agenda. But it always had one gap: every room was a single-language room. Houseparty had nothing for the hundreds of millions of people whose social lives cross a language line every day. HeyBabel provides the cross-language text conversation layer that video-only platforms like Houseparty always lacked — and it’s available today.
HeyBabel
For cross-language group conversation
Houseparty is gone, but the need for connected hangouts isn’t
Houseparty
Was a popular group video chat app
Shut down in October 2021 — app no longer available
Verdict
Houseparty is over
If you want casual multilingual group conversation, HeyBabel fills the gap Houseparty never could
Feature
HeyBabel
Houseparty
🌍 Message translation
✓ Automatic, in-thread
✗ No translation (app shut down)
✅ Availability
✓ Active and growing
✗ Shut down October 2021
📹 Group video chat
∼ Not a video platform
✓ Was core feature (now unavailable)
💬 Cross-language chat
✓ Real-time translated
✗ No translation when active
📱 Mobile app
✓ iOS + Android
✗ App removed from stores
🖥️ Desktop access
✓ Web + desktop
✗ No longer available
🛋️ Casual group hangouts
✓ Cross-language group chat
✗ Not available
🧑🤝🧑 Teen community
✓ Works for any demographic
✗ Not available
🎮 Game integration
∼ Not applicable
✗ Epic Games/Fortnite integration cancelled
🔒 Privacy controls
✓ User-controlled
∼ Not applicable (shut down)
Former Houseparty users looking for
A Houseparty alternative for casual group socializing, particularly for those with international friend groups that Houseparty’s single-language rooms could never serve
The spontaneous, low-friction social hangout energy Houseparty was known for — without the scheduling formality of video calls
A platform that is actually available today, still being developed, and not at risk of sudden shutdown
Group conversation that works even when your friends speak different languages — a gap Houseparty always had
Cross-language connection with people you already know, or communities you want to join, regardless of what language they speak
HeyBabel works best for
Friend groups spanning different languages — the group where one person speaks Spanish, another Japanese, another Arabic, and you all want to actually talk
International communities who valued Houseparty’s casual drop-in energy but found the platform structurally limited to one language at a time
Anyone wanting casual cross-language social chat without the formality of a scheduled video call
Communities that cross geographic and language lines — where the old model of “everyone speak English or don’t participate” doesn’t work
Global friend groups who want real group conversation, not just parallel monologues in different languages
Frequently asked questions
No — Epic Games shut down Houseparty in October 2021. The app was removed from app stores and existing users’ accounts were deactivated. The planned Fortnite integration was also cancelled. Houseparty had been one of the standout social apps of the COVID lockdown era, growing from around 50 million users to a peak during 2020 — making its sudden discontinuation one of the more striking shutdowns in recent consumer tech history. There is no official successor or relaunch planned.
For casual cross-language group chat, HeyBabel provides real-time translation across 100+ languages — something Houseparty never offered even when it was active. For video-first hangouts, FaceTime, Zoom, and Google Meet offer group video. For the combination of casual group chat plus translation, HeyBabel is unique. The platform is designed for the exact use case Houseparty couldn’t handle: a group of friends who don’t all share a language, wanting to have a real conversation without anyone being excluded.
Epic Games, which acquired Houseparty in 2019, shut it down in October 2021 to focus resources on other projects. The planned deep integration with Fortnite — which was the primary stated reason for the acquisition — was cancelled along with the shutdown. User activity had also declined significantly from the COVID-era peaks of 2020, when the platform had grown rapidly as people looked for ways to socialize under lockdown. Epic gave users a short window to export any data before the service went completely dark.
Houseparty is gone. Cross-language group chat is still here — try HeyBabel.
Join the waitlist — HeyBabel makes multilingual group conversation work, for any language, any friend group.