New Steam Feature: Family Sharing

[Pikminiman]

Update:​

Steam Family Sharing is now available to all users after leaving an extension beta period on February 28th 2014.

Original Post:
Earlier today, Valve announced a new feature to the Steam digital distribution platform. The new feature, called Family Sharing, will enable Steam users to share their entire Steam libraries with their close friends and family members. The feature comes as a response to Steam users who have "expressed a desire to share their digital games among friends and family members, just as current retail games, books, DVDs, and other physical media can be shared," according to Anna Sweet of Valve.

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Steam users will each be able to authorize up to 10 separate devices to access their game and software libraries. Rather than sharing individual games, Steam libraries will be shared in their entirety, such that authorized devices can access, download, and install all games in the shared library. A shared Steam library may only be accessed by a single user at a time; however, the lender will never be locked out of his/her library. If the lender chooses to play a game in his/her library while someone else is playing a game on the shared library, the borrower will be given several minutes to either purchase the game or quit playing.

Steam users may sign up for a chance to take part in the Family Sharing beta by joining the Family Sharing Group on Steam. The beta is set to arrive next week and will include press, journalists, and 1,000 individuals from the aforementioned Steam group.

Below are some of the FAQs from the official Family Sharing announcement page. The announcement page also includes a pair of hidden images (here, and here) demonstrating how the Family Sharing feature will function within Steam's Big Picture mode.

How do I enable Family Sharing on my computer?
Family Sharing is enabled in one of two ways: You can either locally enable sharing in Account Settings, with Family Sharing & Devices, or remotely respond to a user's Steam request to share your previously installed games via email.

Can all Steam games be shared with friends and family?
No, due to technical limitations, some Steam games may be unavailable for sharing. For example, titles that require an additional third-party key, account, or subscription in order to play cannot be shared between accounts.

Can region-restricted content be shared across regions?
No, any region restrictions will remain in place when lending or borrowing content.

Recently, we reported on a possibly upcoming Steam Parental Control feature. We anticipate the new Family Sharing feature will likely be supplemented by the "Kid Mode" so as to prevent kids from playing mature games on their parents' shared accounts. As usual, we'll keep you posted regarding any future Steam updates.

 

[Aizawa]

WHY IS VALVE SO AWESOME

 

[Captain Derp]

Pretty cool. I only use Steam on one computer, though.

 

[ríomhaire]

That's pretty damn cool. Now we just need to be able to have two accounts logged in at once for splitscreen games.