Steam has officially rolled out its new Steam Families feature after undergoing beta testing earlier this year. This new system replaces the previous Steam Family Sharing and Steam Family View features, offering a more streamlined and feature-rich experience for households with multiple gamers.
Steam Families allows users to create a digital family of up to six Steam accounts and pool their game libraries together. This means that family members can access and play games from each other's collections, providing a more cost-effective and convenient way to enjoy a wider variety of titles, similar to how console gamers can share physical copies of games with each other albeit Steam's take does carry certain understandable limitations.
Steam Families lets multiple family members play games from the shared library at the same time. Previously, only one person could access the shared library at a time, which often led to frustration and scheduling conflicts. Now, as long as there are multiple copies of a game within the family, different members can play that game concurrently, with Valve using Portal 2 as an example in their FAQ.
For example, if two members of a Steam Family own copies of a popular title, any two players in the family can enjoy that game at the same time. If a third copy is purchased by another family member, up to three players can dive into the action simultaneously. This feature alone is a game-changer for households with multiple gamers, as it eliminates the need to purchase duplicate copies of games for each family member.