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[cyberheater]

I'm a bit confused about this.

 

[Mownoc]

No. only one can play per owned copy. It used to be the entire library that could only be used by one person at once but they changed it to be per game afaik, though devs can opt-out of family sharing support.

The account that owns the game can however play in offline mode and then one other account could play in family sharing while the owner is in offline mode. So in this way it is possible to have two people play simultaneously, but no multiplayer obviously unless the game has LAN or Direct IP support.

 

[struggler_guts]

Unfortunately no, it gives you like 10 minutes then it'll bump you off

 

[cyberheater]

I will try the offline mode for single player games.

 

[CuNi]

The new steam Family sharing allows it. I don't know why people say no. The new steam family share takes all purchased games from the members and throws them into a pot. If 3 out of 5 people had bought a game, 3 people can play it simultaneously. If only 1 license is purchased only one account can play.

So to answer the question in the title, yes. Multiple members can play the same game simultaneously.

 

[Fahdis]

Is it still in Beta mode?

 

[dreamstation]

So to answer the question in the title, yes. Multiple members can play the same game simultaneously.

Sounds like the OP is asking whether two people can play the same game like you can on PS or XB with game sharing. So player one owns the game but not player two. Can they both play the same game at the same time? Pretty sure that is still a no.

 

[CuNi]

Sounds like the OP is asking whether two people can play the same game like you can on PS or XB with game sharing. So player one owns the game but not player two. Can they both play the same game at the same time? Pretty sure that is still a no.

As written in my post it depends on how many people in the family own the game.
If two people own the game, any two people from the family can play it. Just like on Xbox or Playstation. If you have only one disc, only one person can play. If you got two discs, two can play at the same time.

 

[Sentenza]

Keep in mind that there are two distinct features at play here:
- Family sharing allows someone else to play (most) games in your library if you are not playing currently.
- Then there's the "co-op sharing" which allow two people to play remotely a "local co-op" game at the same time even if only one of the two owns a copy.

 

[Null Persp]

No, with the new familiy sharing the library is not locked while someone play a game, the 5 minutues time limit is gone but you still can't play the same game if is it being used.

 

[Yerd]

As written in my post it depends on how many people in the family own the game.
If two people own the game, any two people from the family can play it. Just like on Xbox or Playstation. If you have only one disc, only one person can play. If you got two discs, two can play at the same time.

That would not be sharing a game. That is two people that bought the same game, playing their own copy. Yes, it's sharing if you have more than 2 people trying to play 2 bought copies of a game. OP is trying to understand the basics of the feature.

1 person buys a game, 1 person can play at a time. If you are sharing to family, 1 person can play the shared copy if you are not playing. If your family member is playing and you start the game, it will kick off the family member.

 

[dreamstation]

As written in my post it depends on how many people in the family own the game.
If two people own the game, any two people from the family can play it. Just like on Xbox or Playstation. If you have only one disc, only one person can play. If you got two discs, two can play at the same time.

Seeing as we're talking about steam which is all digital I was obviously talking about digital games on PS and XB. And how it works on there is only one person needs to own the game and then two people can play the same game at the same time, something which isn't possible with steam.

 

[CuNi]

That would not be sharing a game. That is two people that bought the same game, playing their own copy. Yes, it's sharing if you have more than 2 people trying to play 2 bought copies of a game. OP is trying to understand the basics of the feature.

1 person buys a game, 1 person can play at a time. If you are sharing to family, 1 person can play the shared copy if you are not playing. If your family member is playing and you start the game, it will kick off the family member.

Licenses are shared across the whole family.
If there are 2 people who bought a game in the family, 2 members of that family can play this game at any time.
That is the literal definition of sharing.

Seeing as we're talking about steam which is all digital I was obviously talking about digital games on PS and XB. And how it works on there is only one person needs to own the game and then two people can play the same game at the same time, something which isn't possible with steam.

This isn't what OP asked for.
The Question is literally the Thread-title, which simply is "can multiple family members play the same game at the same time".
I gave the factually correct which is "Yes, the same amount of people in the family can play it as members have bought it".
There was no comparison to Xbox/PlayStation or anything else.

 

[buenoblue]

Licenses are shared across the whole family.
If there are 2 people who bought a game in the family, 2 members of that family can play this game at any time.
That is the literal definition of sharing.



This isn't what OP asked for.
The Question is literally the Thread-title, which simply is "can multiple family members play the same game at the same time".
I gave the factually correct which is "Yes, the same amount of people in the family can play it as members have bought it".
There was no comparison to Xbox/PlayStation or anything else.

Why is there always that one person in a thread that makes the internet unbearable

 

[dreamstation]

I guess we need the OP to return so we know exactly what they want to do then

 

[Yerd]

Licenses are shared across the whole family.
If there are 2 people who bought a game in the family, 2 members of that family can play this game at any time.
That is the literal definition of sharing.



This isn't what OP asked for.
The Question is literally the Thread-title, which simply is "can multiple family members play the same game at the same time".
I gave the factually correct which is "Yes, the same amount of people in the family can play it as members have bought it".
There was no comparison to Xbox/PlayStation or anything else.

Look, I know you know how it works. I know how it works.
When you use the same number of family members in your example, that's not a good explanation.

If we are 2 people in a 4 people family steam group with 2 of the same game any 4 of the people can share it, 2 at a time. If you keep using 2 people sharing 2 copies of the game, it's not sharing. 2 people bought a thing and they are using the thing they bought. That doesn't help clarify to someone that doesn't understand.

 

[CuNi]

Look, I know you know how it works. I know how it works.
When you use the same number of family members in your example, that's not a good explanation.

If we are 2 people in a 4 people family steam group with 2 of the same game any 4 of the people can share it, 2 at a time. If you keep using 2 people sharing 2 copies of the game, it's not sharing. 2 people bought a thing and they are using the thing they bought. That doesn't help clarify to someone that doesn't understand.

Steam Supports a family size up to 6 people, but the amount of people in a family doesn't matter to the question.
The only thing that counts is the amount of licenses of any game the family has, split between its members, as that is the maximum allowed concurrent amount of people from that family playing the game.

But you are of course correct. In a family of 2 members, if both bought the game, it is not sharing.
Also, I don't think OP is going to return to this thread at all, so we might as well stop arguing about semantics.

 

[cyberheater]

I guess we need the OP to return so we know exactly what they want to do then

To buy a game and two family members being able to play the same single player game at the same time.

 

[dreamstation]

To buy a game and two family members being able to play the same single player game at the same time.

I thought so and the answer is no unfortunately. Unlike consoles where you can buy the game once and have two people play at the same time you can't do it like that on steam.

 

[Grildon Tundy]

Could you play offline on the "main" computer/account, and then your friend/family plays online on another computer (assuming it needs online verification at one point of access for share play).

 

[dreamstation]

Have not tried this so maybe could work for single player game?

 

[Yerd]

Could you play offline on the "main" computer/account, and then your friend/family plays online on another computer (assuming it needs online verification at one point of access for share play).

Yes. You would be offline, so there's no way for it to check. First make sure to play the game once, in case there is any log-in checks or updates to be done. Then go offline and you should both be able to play. I don't think I have played a game in offline mode first. Just to make sure steam knows you have the license, run it online the one time.

I have run into issues with Epic's offline mode where it wanted to verify a license by log-in before. I don't think steam is as finicky. Which is one reason I stay away from Epic.