How to set up Steam Families to share games

Valve has introduced a major upgrade to the way players can share the games they own on Steam with household family members, revamping the feature and calling it Steam Families.

Until recently, if Steam players wanted to share games among their family members’ accounts, they had to use the age old Steam Family Sharing feature as well as Steam Family View to monitor and control the activity of any account that was being used by a child.

This meant that you could play any game those relatives had and vice versa without either party needing to purchase an extra copy of that title from the Steam store, while also having the ability to watch the other’s playthroughs. Now, however, Valve has rolled the features into one simple package for the most convenient and straightforward game-sharing experience one could as for.

Here’s how to set up Steam Families so you and your family can game together, as well as any limitations that come with the revamped feature.

Setting up Steam Families, a guide

1) Create a Steam Family

To begin sharing Steam games with your family, you must first create a Steam Family and invite your family member’s Steam accounts. If you haven’t done so already, make sure your family member has signed up to Steam on their own account.

Here’s how to set up a Steam Family:

• Log in to Steam and navigate to the Settings menu.
• Under the Interface tab, go to Client Beta Participation and select Steam Families Beta.
• Restart Steam when prompted.
• Once Steam reopens, click on your profile in the top-right of the Steam window and select Account details.
• Click the Family Management tab, then select Create a Family.
• Give your family a name, then hit Confirm.

Once done, your Steam Family is up and running. Now, you’ll need to invite your family members to join so you can begin sharing your games.

2) Add family members to a Steam Family

To add members to a Steam Family:

• Head back to the Family Management tab.
• Click Invite a member.
• Select the family member from your friends list or enter their Friend Code (found in their Account details).
• The family member will need to confirm the invite via authentication (email or app).

And you’re done! You’ll be able to select which games you’d like your family to access and can even give an Adult or Child designation to prevent disallowed access to certain features like Steam Community or Market access.

As part of the upgraded Steam Families feature you’ll no longer be limited to playing on one device at a time: As long as it’s a different game, family members can play on their own devices using the game owned by the lead profile.

There are other limitations such as how often you can switch and whether a game is eligible to be used. For more on that, check out the Steam Families FAQ.

Steam Families vs. Family Sharing and Family View: Key differences

• Removes the authorization of devices, and goes with user invites instead
  • This makes it a lot more user-friendly to set up
• Makes the family group share with everyone at the same time
  • No more giving access to specific people to your library
  • It does make things a lot simpler
• Allows you to play (different) games at the same time as the game’s owner
  • Can also play the same game when there are multiple licenses in the group
• Improved parental controls
• Allows you to actually share DLC when you already own the game
  • Current system doesn’t let you play someone else’s DLC if you own the base game
  • Beta lets you choose whose license to play

Limitations of Steam Families

with certain caveats and limitations as to when both accounts could play. You can only add five registered accounts to your Steam Family at one time, and to allow for game sharing, each account will need to have Steam Guard enabled on the account and device first. There is a size limit to your Steam Family!

Troubleshooting