Family Libraries: The best Steam feature is now live and everyone benefits

There is good news for Steam users: It is now much easier to share games with others and use a common pool of games. After a test phase, the new so-called Steam Family is now available to everyone on Steam. You can use it to create a family and invite up to five other people.

All games for all Family members

The highlight is that each person brings their own game library to the family and all libraries are open to everyone. In other words, you get a larger selection of games from your Family members for free. In contrast to the previous family view, it doesn't matter whether the Family members themselves are online in Steam or not. It's also great that each person gets their own game saves and can achieve their own Steam achievements.

Console gamers can only dream of such a shared game pool. On the Playstation, for example, sharing only works via SharePlay. This function is designed for taster sessions with a friend. You can invite someone to watch the game with you. Such a session is then also ended after just 60 minutes.

These are the limitations of the Steam family

The Steam Family does not mean that only one person has to buy the game and all six Family members can start playing multiplayer right away. The number of simultaneous players depends on the number of copies of the game purchased in the libraries. For example, if two Family members own "Satisfactory", any two people in the family can play "Satisfactory" at the same time. If only one person has bought the game, it is only available once.

A rather soft restriction so far is Steam's statement that the Steam Family is "intended for people living in the same household". This is not an explicit ban on inviting people with other addresses. However, the use of the new options will be monitored and the rules may be adjusted in the future.

It is also not possible to engage in "family hopping". If you join a family, you can only join another family after one year at the earliest, even if you leave the family in the meantime. The vacant place in a family can also only be reassigned after one year.

Developer studios must also agree that their games can be shared via the family library. If a studio does not allow this, you will have to buy their games yourself in order to use them. You can find a list of games that allow sharing via Steam Family here.

You should also bear in mind that penalties affect everyone. If you share a game and a Family member is caught cheating, for example, not only will their account be banned, but so will yours. If you want to be absolutely sure that this doesn't happen, you should exclude the game in question from sharing via the library.

Youth protection options in the Steam family

With Steam Family, you also manage your children's access. Steam therefore distinguishes between "adults" and "children". This role is defined as soon as a person joins the family

Each adult can invite new Family members and exclude Family members. All adults also have access to the parental control settings. For example, you can determine which games the children are allowed to play. The advanced parental control options include settings for whether children are allowed to use the store, workshop and Community functions such as chats and groups. You can also set permitted play times for each day of the week and view playtime logs.

Children can submit purchase suggestions for games that interest them. Adults see the suggestion in their account and can then buy the game or reject the suggestion.

You can read all the news about the Steam family here.