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[jshackles]

Steam :: Steam News :: Steam Families is here

Hello! We are excited to announce Steam Families is now available for all users. Steam Families is a collection of new and existing family-related features. It replaces both Steam Family Sharing and Steam Family View, giving you a single location to manage which games your family can access and...

steamcommunity.com

This has been in beta client since earlier this year - it's now available for everyone.

 

[XXL]

This is great, but it sound like you have to buy multiple copies of games to play with anyone (MP) you're sharing with, but they can play your games otherwise. Is this correct?

 

[Sabejita]

The huge change with Family Sharing is that 2 accounts can use the same library at the same time.

 

[Mortisfacio]

This is great, but it sound like you have to buy multiple copies of games to play with anyone (MP) you're sharing with, but they can play your games otherwise. Is this correct?

Yah, still one license per active usage, but I've got hundreds of games in my library so I can share my games with my kids now and as long as I'm not playing that specific game, they're free to play whatever else. I love it.

 

[XXL]

Yah, still one license per active usage, but I've got hundreds of games in my library so I can share my games with my kids now and as long as I'm not playing that specific game, they're free to play whatever else. I love it.

Oh yeah, it still really good. My kids are going to be happy. I have a bunch of games on Steam too.

I have multiple PS5s in my house and it's nice being able to play MP with other people from one copy. It was great for Helldivers 2. But I understand why Steam wouldn't do that.

 

[XXL]

The huge change with Family Sharing is that 2 accounts can use the same library at the same time.

For real? This would be amazing. Where are you seeing this? And is it for MP?

 

[jshackles]

For real? This would be amazing. Where are you seeing this? And is it for MP?

The key word in his post was LIBRARIES. Under the old system, you could share games - but it was shared by the entire library and not by game itself. If you launched Grand Theft Auto V on Steam, but someone was playing your Steam copy of Bioshock Infinite with the old family sharing, it would have kicked them out of Bioshock so that you could play GTA.

Now it will only kick them out if they were also playing GTA5 when you launched it.

 

[CS Lurker]

For real? This would be amazing. Where are you seeing this? And is it for MP?

Only for SP.

The sharing Steam had before was crap. Only one person could have access to a library at a time.

 

[XXL]

The key word in his post was LIBRARIES. Under the old system, you could share games - but it was shared by the entire library and not by game itself. If you launched Grand Theft Auto V on Steam, but someone was playing your Steam copy of Bioshock Infinite with the old family sharing, it would have kicked them out of Bioshock so that you could play GTA.

Now it will only kick them out if they were also playing GTA5 when you launched it.

Only for SP.

The sharing Steam had before was crap. Only one person could have access to a library at a time.

Ok thanks. I appreciate it.

I was getting really excited for a minute there. Lol.

This is still pretty awesome and my kids are going to be happy about this.

 

[Fahdis]

Steam is amazing.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

The key word in his post was LIBRARIES. Under the old system, you could share games - but it was shared by the entire library and not by game itself. If you launched Grand Theft Auto V on Steam, but someone was playing your Steam copy of Bioshock Infinite with the old family sharing, it would have kicked them out of Bioshock so that you could play GTA.

Now it will only kick them out if they were also playing GTA5 when you launched it.

This change is incredible.

 

[Halo2redvsblue]

The biggest con is if your friend or family gets banned on a game, you get banned as well.

 

[Ribi]

Can I join multiple families tho

 

[ZehDon]

Cool, just created a family for me and my wife.

 

[jshackles]

Can I join multiple families tho

You can only be a member of one family. If you leave a family, you cannot join another family for one year. Also when someone leaves a family, that family member slot (each family has six) is also burned for one year.

This is really designed for sharing with your actual family and not made for pooling game purchases among friends.

 

[Fess]

Can I setup a Steam Family if everybody already have individual accounts and will all members have access to all games from all accounts?

 

[DavidGzz]

Added my girls, how do you hide pron games? Asking for a friend.

 

[moniker]

Added my girls, how do you hide pron games? Asking for a friend.

There is parental controls. Or you can right click on game in the game list and choose Manage > Mark as Private

 

[nemiroff]

Good stuff. And especially useful now that I no longer plan to buy a ~$1000 PS5 Pro for my son(s) but instead building him a new PC.

PCs/Steam/family sharing and a Switch 2, that's the way ahead in this household

 

[Cyberpunkd]

This is really designed for sharing with your actual family and not made for pooling game purchases among friends.

Good, otherwise it would have been exploited like hell.

 

[Esparadrapo]

Good, otherwise it would have been exploited like hell.

There are people complaining and it's those trying to abuse the system. I understand that some people have family in other countries but those are some edge cases.

 

[Husky]

This sucks for me. My library just shrank by about 90% because I'd been exploiting the system.

 

[AJUMP23]

I think this is a good solution.

 

[yet_another_alt]

The change of letting you access the entire library except for a currently running game is a welcome one. Is DLC also shared?

 

[IFireflyl]

The change of letting you access the entire library except for a currently running game is a welcome one. Is DLC also shared?

The answer is, "Yes, but with caveats." From their Support page:

When I play a game from a Steam Family member, what DLC do I get?

When you launch a game belonging to another member of your Steam Family, you get the DLC that they own that has been marked as shareable by its publisher.

Which games are currently eligible for Family Sharing?

As Steam Families is replacing the Steam Family Sharing feature, all developer set Family Sharing settings from the outgoing feature are being brought forward to Steam Families. So, if a game is currently eligible for Family Sharing, it will remain so in the new system unless the publisher chooses to opt-out later.

As with Steam Family Sharing previously, not all games can be shared due to technical limitations, some Steam games and content may be unavailable for sharing. Games or content that matches the criteria below cannot be shared between accounts.

• Games that require an additional third-party key, account, or a subscription in order to play
• Free to play games and any purchased DLC for those games
• Games or DLC that is restricted in your or the other family member's region
• Games that do not support the other family member's operating system
• Games that the publisher has marked explicitly as unavailable for sharing
• Games marked as private by the original owner
• Games that are currently excluded from Family Sharing will continue to be
  excluded from sharing in Steam Families. This includes games that require an additional third party account or subscription.

What happens if the game I want to play from my Steam Family is in use?

If another member of your Steam Family also owns the game with identical DLC, Steam will launch that copy instead. If there is no copy with identical DLC, Steam will look for any copies of the same game and ask you if you want to switch to playing one of those copies instead, but your saved games may or may not work with different sets of DLC. If there are no other copies available in your Steam Family, you can either wait for the game to be available or buy another copy.

Can I change which Steam Family member's copy of a game I play?

You can always change which Steam Family member's copy of a game that you play. Note that if you switch to a Steam Family member's copy that has different DLC than the copy you were playing, your save games may or may not work.

Troubleshooting Steam Families

If you are experiencing an issue with a specific game or DLC in your Steam Family, it's likely that the game is not available for sharing for one of the reasons outlined in the FAQ above.

Based on this:

• Free-to-play games and their DLC cannot be shared.
• Publishers could mark games and/or DLC as non-shareable.
• Games and/or DLC that is region-locked cannot be shared if the family member is not in a region that is supported.