After an extended beta phase, the Steam Families feature is now officially available to all users.
What is the Updated Steam Families Feature?
The revamped Steam Families feature replaces the previous Steam Family Sharing and Steam Family View with an enhanced version consolidated in one interface. With Steam Families, managing your family members, creating new family groups, and joining existing ones has become a streamlined process.
As a Steam Family member, you can share games with others or access games from their library, provided those games are shareable. To find out if a specific game is shareable, visit its Store Page and look for the Family Sharing tag.
How to Set Up and Join a Steam Family
You can have up to six members in a Steam Family, including both Adult and Child accounts. To create your own Steam Family, follow these simple steps:
- Click on Steam in the upper left corner of the screen.
- Select Settings from the dropdown menu.
- In the settings window, navigate to the Family tab.
- On the right, click on the “Create or Join Steam Family” button, which will direct you to a new page where you can join or form a family.
- Click on the “Create a Family” button.
- In the next window, input a name for your family and hit “Create.”
You can now send invitations to up to five people to join your family. To join someone else’s family, simply accept an invitation from that friend.
Can You Leave a Steam Family?
Only Adult members of the Steam Family are allowed to leave voluntarily, while Child members can only be removed by the family owner. Do keep in mind that once you choose to leave a family, you must wait a full year before you can join or create another Steam Family.
To add another member to your Steam Family, you must also wait for a one year cooldown period.
Can Two Family Members Play the Same Game Simultaneously?
No, if another family member is currently playing a game from your library, you CANNOT join them in that game at the same time. You will need to wait for them to exit the game or you can choose to play a different game from either your own or their library in the meantime.
Can You Play Shared Games While Offline?
Yes, as long as it supports Family Sharing, you can play any game from a family member’s library while you are offline.
This covers everything you need to know about the new Steam Families feature on Steam.
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