What is Steam Families?
Valve is excited to announce the launch of Steam Families, a feature that combines new and existing family-related tools. This initiative replaces the earlier Steam Family Sharing and Steam Family View, providing a single, convenient location for managing your family’s gaming access. With Steam Families, you can create a family group and invite up to five members, allowing everyone to enjoy a seamless gaming experience.
Advantages of Joining a Steam Family
Once you become part of a Steam Family, shared access to games dramatically transforms your gaming landscape. Family sharing enables members to play and enjoy games from each other’s libraries, even if they are currently enjoying another game. If your family library contains multiple copies of a title, it allows simultaneous play for various family members. Furthermore, you will not lose ownership of your purchased titles; they remain in your collection, and new purchases will reflect directly.
Accessing Steam Families Features
The new ‘family library’ will appear in the left column of your games list, where it’s easy to access shareable games. Each member retains the ability to create their own saved games, earn unique achievements, and access workshop files, which adds a layer of personalization to the experience. While family sharing is a fantastic feature, developers may choose to opt their games out for various reasons. For current compatibility, visit the Steam Store to see which games support family sharing.
