Epic Games Launches Epic Parties for Cross-Ecosystem Voice Chat

Epic Games has launched Epic Parties, a new social feature that allows players to voice chat with friends across Fortnite, the Epic Games Store, and Epic's mobile applications. The system is designed to keep users connected while they use different platforms or services. For example, PC players can voice chat with friends playing Fortnite on console, and mobile users can maintain conversations while the app runs in the background.

The feature also allows players to transfer voice chats between devices without dropping audio and continue chatting while playing other games through the Epic Games Store on PC. Additionally, friends who accept an Epic Party invite will automatically join the same Fortnite lobby when launching the game. Epic Parties incorporates existing options to mute, block, and report players, as well as voice reporting for suspected community rule violations.

According to Epic Games, this update forms part of a broader initiative to establish an open social ecosystem where player connections and in-game purchases can move seamlessly between games. Epic plans to extend social avatars beyond Fortnite later this year, with these features also arriving in Rocket League next year. Furthermore, the company is working toward making its social features accessible to developers across various platforms, stores, and engines by 2027.