Steam Family Groups Are Live: What You Need to Know

Valve has launched Steam Families, a new feature replacing Family Sharing and View, allowing up to six users to share a game library and manage child accounts.

This new feature, introduced after a beta test earlier this year, provides a fresh way for family members to connect and oversee gaming activities on the platform.?

Hello! We are excited to announce the launch of Steam Families, now accessible in the Steam Beta Client. This feature introduces significant updates and improvements to family sharing, parental controls, and child purchase requests.

See all the details at the announcement blog… pic.twitter.com/qL8iUtJKOr

— Steam (@Steam) March 18, 2024

How to Get Started and What’s Included

To start using Steam Families, set up a family group and invite up to five members. You can adjust the settings through the Steam Client, mobile app, or web browser.

By joining a Steam Family, you can access games from the libraries of other members, while they can play the titles you’ve shared. The updated ‘Family Library’ section will be visible in the left column of your game list. You will keep ownership of your games.

Notably, multiple people can now simultaneously play games from the shared library. You can use games from other family members, even if they are online, provided they’re playing different titles. If there are several copies of a game available, several family members can play it at once.

Steam Families also includes features from Steam Family View. The new parental controls let adults monitor and manage children’s activities from any device, including restricting access to Steam’s store, communities, and chat, setting playtime limits, approving extensions, and recovering lost passwords.

A new payment feature lets child accounts ask adults to cover the cost of their shopping cart. Adults can approve and pay via mobile or email, with games added to the child’s account upon approval.

Shortcomings and User Reactions

Some gaming studios might not choose to support Steam Family Gropus. Valve keeps a list of games that do offer family sharing. According to Valve, developers can choose to opt their games out of Family Sharing at any time due to technical issues or other factors.

Steam also imposes some restrictions: accounts must be located in the same country to join a family group. Adults can exit a family but must wait one year before joining or creating a new one. Children can’t leave the family group without help, and can only be removed by an adult or with the help of Steam Support.

Additionally, if a family member is banned for cheating while using your game copy, the game owner will also be banned, though other family members won’t be affected.

Not all users are thrilled with these updates, with some humorously suggesting that anyone causing a ban should be removed from the family. They’ve also questioned who keeps the library in a divorce.

Steam Families officially launches today

– All games are automatically shared between family members

– If a family member is banned from playing your game online, you will also be banned

– You can be removed from a family

– This replaces both Steam Family Sharing and Steam… pic.twitter.com/HxToduVCV0

— Dexerto (@Dexerto) September 11, 2024