Houseparty alternative: the room with the games inside
Houseparty shut down in October 2021, and if you are still looking for a replacement years later, it is because nobody took its exact place. Zoom does meetings. Discord does servers. Houseparty did something else: a room where you bumped into your friends without planning anything, with games right inside the call.
What happened to Houseparty
Epic Games, the studio behind Fortnite, had bought Houseparty in 2019. On 9 September 2021 Epic announced the shutdown: the app was pulled from the stores immediately and stopped working in October. The stated reason was a shift towards its metaverse ambitions.
This was not a small app going quiet. At the height of lockdown Houseparty claimed 50 million sign-ups in a single month. Daily usage then collapsed once people could meet in person, and the acquisition did not survive it. Today the houseparty.com domain does not even resolve.
Why the obvious replacements replace nothing
If you have tried the usual suspects, you already know they do not fit:
- Zoom, Meet, Teams do meetings. They need a link, a time and a reason. Houseparty needed none of the three.
- Discord is excellent, but it is a server: you have to have it installed, have been invited, and know which channel to go to.
- FaceTime and WhatsApp call one specific person. That is the opposite of hanging around together with no goal.
What is missing everywhere is the exact combination: you walk in unannounced, and there is something to do once you are there. A video call where people stare at each other in silence dies in four minutes.
The HQ: what PLOXX does with it
The HQ is a room you open for your friends. They join with a code, no install. Inside:
- Text chat and a group video call. The room takes up to 10 people, the video call up to 6 at once.
- A synced YouTube TV. Someone starts a video and everyone sees the same frame at the same moment, with the window widening into theatre mode. Handy detail: pasting a link in the chat offers it directly.
- Games inside the call, which was Houseparty's real signature. "Would you rather" with 139 questions across 6 themes, the impostor word game, draw-and-guess, two truths and a lie, and most likely to. See games to play on a video call.
- A soundbox to drop a sound effect on the whole room, and mute anyone if it gets out of hand.
And nothing to install: it runs in the browser, on phone and desktop alike. See video chat with no download.
The differences worth knowing before you arrive
Better said upfront than discovered later:
- The video call caps at 6, where Houseparty held 8 per room. The room itself goes to 10, but not everyone is on camera at once.
- PLOXX is not only a room for friends. There is also meeting strangers, progression, squads and battles. The room works on its own, but you are arriving inside something larger.
- It is 15 and over, and 15 to 17 year olds are matched with each other, separately from adults.
- There is no address book to import. Houseparty read your contacts, which was convenient and intrusive at the same time. Here you add someone with a 6-character code.
For the room on its own, see group chat room with friends. For the synced TV, watch YouTube together.
Frequently asked questions
Could Houseparty come back?
Nothing suggests it. Epic ended the service in October 2021 and moved the team onto its metaverse projects. The houseparty.com domain no longer resolves, which is not what a paused service looks like.
Why did Houseparty shut down if it was working?
It was working during lockdowns, with a claimed 50 million sign-ups in one month. Daily usage fell away afterwards and its owner chose to reassign the team. That was a shareholder decision, not a technical failure.
Do I need to install anything?
No. Everything runs in the browser, on phone and desktop. You can add an icon to your home screen, but that is not an installation.
Can we play games like on Houseparty?
Yes, and that is rather the point. Five games fit inside the call, including "Would you rather" with its 139 questions, the impostor word game and draw-and-guess. Mostly they exist so nobody has to work out what to say first.
Is it free?
Yes. The room, the chat, the group video call, the synced TV and the games are free, with no time limit and no card.