This was previously available as a opt in beta, but is now available for everyone.

      • This is the same as the beta version, but is distinctly different from what we used to have. Previously playing a shared game locked down the entire library, now it just locks the one copy of the game. Previously you had to sign in on the same device to make it happen, now you can invite into the family remotely. Previously you could switch people in and out easily, now there’s a six person limit on the family and a one year cooldown on both the slot and the member who chooses to leave a family.

        Overall it’s better as long as you didn’t abuse the system before.

  • This has a nasty side effect barely related to the family features… it killed the Family View pin. The only thing that could coax bloody GeForce Now to sync with Steam cloud instead of killing the session instantly as you quit the game. There’s no other feature that can lock games from running like Family View did, isn’t there?

  • Have they solved the issue that multiple people can’t be playing at the same time, or the same game at the same time?

    I don’t even do families. One of us just goes into offline mode for the time. Slightly obnoxious.

    •  Fubarberry   ( @Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz ) OP
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      102 months ago

      Previously a family member could only play your shared library if you weren’t playing any game.

      With this new steam families, they can play any game except the game you’re actively playing (unless the family collectively owns multiple copies). So if me and my son want to play Lethal Company together we need two copies.

    •  mtlvmpr   ( @mtlvmpr@sopuli.xyz ) 
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      22 months ago

      It just basically combines your libraries now. So if the license is in use, nobody else can use it unless there are multiple licenses. Offline will still work for your own games and you can choose the best version to play. E.g. I have Isaac but only 1 dlc while my gf has all of the dlc so I can just play her version when she’s not playing it.

  • I’m excited for this. I just got my wife a Deck used to play Escape Simulator together, but this will make it a lot easier for her to play most of my other games, now, too.

    Sadly Dragon Age 3 can’t be shared, which I should have added to her account, not mine… But we only had 1 Deck at the time! (On the other hand, I’ll be able to play most of my library on her device while she’s playing, so not a big deal!)