Valve announced Steam Families, a new game-sharing service for Steam users that allows groups of players to easily share their game library. With this new feature, up to five people can join a Steam Family, giving each member access to any game purchased by another family member.
Key Features:
One Purchase, Shared Access: A single purchase of a game unlocks it for all Steam Family members, assuming the game supports this feature. Developers can enable or disable Steam Families for their games. If a game already supports the earlier Steam Family Sharing system, it will be instantly compatible with Steam Families.
Offline Play: Members can play shared games while offline, as long as the game allows it. Furthermore, all games in a member's library will be available to the entire family unless blocked by parental restrictions. Adults can use these settings to prevent younger users from playing specific games.
Simultaneous Play: A game can be shared by all family members, but only one person can play at a time. If numerous members want to play the same game at the same time, they must purchase an additional copy. Valve gave an example to show how this works.
"If you're in a family of four and own a copy of Portal 2 and Half-Life, one member can play Portal 2 while another plays Half-Life. But if two members want to play Portal 2 at the same time, a second copy must be bought."
Member Management: An adult member of the Steam Family may remove any family member at any moment. However, each family slot has a one-year waiting period before it can be filled by a new member.
Steam Families wants to provide more flexibility for families and friends who want to share games without having to purchase individual copies, as long as they don't mind waiting their time to play.
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