Valve has launched Steam Families, a streamlined and improved version of its existing home game sharing tools, and it is now available for testing in the form of a public beta.
Steam Families combines and replaces features previously available through Valve's Steam Family Sharing and Steam Family View tools, creating a way for up to six family members to share a combined game library, consisting of titles (including DLC own) of each member's individual library. – which can be accessed at any time, with some conditions.
The big caveat to all of this is that games are only eligible for sharing if their developer hasn't opted out of the Steam Families scheme, but once that particular hurdle is removed, the only other key restriction is that a single copy of property of a game can only be played by one person at a time. If multiple people want to play the same game simultaneously, multiple versions of that game must be purchased and made available in the shared library.
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Steam Families includes the new ability to play games in a shared library offline (previously, family sharing required an online connection), and Steam will no longer block access to a family member's entire game library if they are online. online and playing something else. .
Valve also notes that individual accounts using Steam Families now have their own saved games, earn their own Steam achievements, and have individual access to Steam Workshop files.
Additionally, Steam Families offers a new set of parental control tools (accessible through the Steam client, a mobile device, or a web browser) that allows members assigned as “adults” to monitor and manage access to the game on accounts registered as “children”. Adults can restrict children's access to the Steam Store, community features, and chat, and can view playtime reports, set playtime limits, approve child requests for playtime access/ additional features, recover child accounts, and approve requests to pay for a child's purchases. car.
In Valve FAQs. Those who want to try out the new feature before its full release can opt into the current beta via Steam Settings > Interface > Client Beta Participation. From here, select Steam Family Beta from the drop-down menu and click “OK” to gain access.
