According to reports, Facebook is shutting down its Houseparty clone – an app called Bonfire. You may have never even heard of it.
Back in 2017, we reported on Facebook’s plans to launch a clone of Houseparty, a very popular app at the time. Facebook’s clone, named Bonfire, later rolled out in Denmark and several other European markets, but obviously didn’t receive the interest Facebook expected it would.
That’s why – according to TechCrunch’s Josh Constine – Facebook is now shutting down Bonfire, and bringing the group video hangouts feature to Instagram and Messenger.
Houseparty’s App Store rank declined #75 a year ago to #327-> it stopped being a threat -> Fb shuts down its clone Bonfire -> group video hangouts becomes just a feature of Insta/Messenger not a new app
— Josh Constine (@JoshConstine) May 3, 2019
Constine also said that Houseparty’s App Store rank has declined significantly in just over a year, making it less of a threat, so Facebook is taking the idea of a separate app off the table. However, getting rid of the separate app makes total sense for another reason as well. It’s counterproductive to try to create a new network when you already have the biggest network on the planet.
Facebook has a history of creating separate apps, sunsetting them, and then just moving their most popular features into existing products. Remember ‘Slingshot,’ ‘Poke,’ or ‘Riff’?
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