Epic Games launches cross-platform voice chat Epic Parties
Key takeaways
- Epic Parties available across Fortnite, Epic Launcher, Epic Games Store (PC/Mac/iOS/Android), Epic mobile app
- Voice chat continues during device/game switches and when mobile app is backgrounded
- Party invites work from friend lists or group chat 'Start Party' button; accepts can auto-join lobbies
- Epic to expand social avatars this year, add to Rocket League with UE6 next year, open to all devs by 2027
Epic Games has launched Epic Parties, a cross-platform voice chat feature available across Fortnite, the Epic Games Launcher, the Epic Games Store (PC, Mac, iOS, Android) and the Epic mobile app (iOS App Store and Google Play). The company says Epic Parties expands communication inside the Epic ecosystem after it added text chat last year, letting friends form parties and talk in real time across different devices and Epic platforms.
Epic Parties lets players keep voice chat going across device and game switches. A user on PC can voice-chat with friends playing Fortnite on console or using the Epic mobile app, and mobile users can continue conversations while the app runs in the background. When players switch from the PC launcher or Epic mobile app into Fortnite, the system can transfer audio without cutting out, and there’s an option to automatically rejoin the same lobby if a friend accepts a party invite.
The launcher and store side of Epic Parties is integrated with existing friend lists and group chats. Players can invite online friends from the Epic Games Launcher, Fortnite, or the Epic mobile app, or use the “Start Party” button inside a group text chat to pull those friends into voice. Party voice persists even when the launcher is minimized, so you can play another PC game from the Epic Games Store while staying in the same party — handy for multitasking with friends.
Safety and moderation tools ship alongside the chat. Epic Parties keeps existing mute, block and report controls and adds an in‑party “voice report” option for suspected community rule violations. Those controls sit alongside the invitation and joining flows described above, so players can both connect across platforms and act if someone crosses a line.
Why it matters
Epic also tied Epic Parties into a broader social push. The company plans to extend social avatar visibility beyond Fortnite later this year so friends and party members can see the same avatar regardless of where they meet. Those social features will arrive in Rocket League when it moves to Unreal Engine 6 next year, and Epic says the tooling will be opened to all developers by 2027. That makes cross-game social presence an explicit part of Epic’s timeline: more ways to stay connected now, and a developer-facing rollout through 2027 for wider adoption.
Original source
Google News: GameMeca
