Table of Contents
Want to know how to Share Steam Games with Family and Friends? In the past, you couldn’t do that because Steam games are digital files that you can’t bring to a friend’s house. We use Steam Family Library Sharing instead in the modern world. It lets other people play the games in your Steam library and use your Steam library. Dedicated People who use Steam build up large libraries of games, but in the past, there was no way to share them.
With Family Library Sharing, gamers can now give other people access to their game libraries. Once someone is allowed to play your games, they can play most of them. As the name suggests, this is great if you have a family and only want to buy one game for each brother, sister, parent, and grandparent. When you share a library, the other person can download your games and play them on their computer.
If you have a game in your Steam library that a friend or family member has been looking at for a while, or if you’ve recommended a game and someone has strongly suggested that they want to borrow it, you can lend it to them. Well, you can do all of that now that Steam Family Sharing lets you share your games. So, how does it work? Here’s how to Share Steam Games with Family and Friends.
What is Steam Family Sharing?
Steam is a platform for getting games and software onto computers. It now has more than a billion active user accounts. Sharing bought games is not allowed, but the Steam Family Library has a special feature that makes it legal to share accounts. With this feature, you can not only play games on Steam, but you can also give them to other people. The feature is called Steam Family Sharing, but you can also share your own library with friends.
A game only needs to be bought once, which is also helpful. Then you choose which user or users can access your library and play the game when you’re done. The person with permission can also make their own saves during the process, so your progress won’t be changed. Overall, Steam Family Sharing is a great way for more than one person to play a game together.
Enable Steam Guard for two-factor authentication
If you don’t use two-factor authentication, Steam’s Family Sharing feature won’t work. Here is how to turn it on.
- Sign in on Steam’s Official website.
- Choose your Username in the upper-right corner.
- From the menu that drops down, choose “Account Details.”
- Then, scroll down to the Account Security section and click “Manage Steam Guard.”
- You can use the Steam Mobile app to get the code sent to your phone, or you can use email. For extra safety, we suggest you use the Steam app.
Now that you’ve unlocked Steam Family Sharing, you can authenticate any account that’s logged in on the same computer. You can choose up to five people to be able to use your library from ten different devices. This feature can only be set up in the Steam app, not in the browser. Sign in to your Steam account on your friend’s computer (and vice versa) to share games.
A shared game can only be played by one person at a time. As the owner of the game, you will have priority, and if you start playing, the other person will have two minutes to save their progress. You have to give your friend access to the whole library; you can’t pick and choose what to give them.
- On their computer, open the Steam app and go to Steam > Settings.
- On the left side of the screen, click “Family.”
- Check the “Authorize Library Sharing on This Computer” box.
- Log out of their account and into yours.
- Then, sign out of your account and ask your friend to sign back in.
- Go back to the “Family” section, and they will now see your account listed in the “Eligible Accounts” section. Choose the account, and then click “OK.”
- Now, log in to your account again, and when they go back to the Library, they’ll see all your games there.
Limitations and Restrictions of Steam Family Sharing
| Limitation | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Only one person can play a shared game at a time. | If you are sharing a game with someone else and they are already playing it, you will not be able to play it at the same time. |
| You cannot share games that are currently in Early Access. | This is because Early Access games are still under development and may not be stable enough to be shared. |
| You cannot share games that have been purchased through a third-party retailer. | This is because Steam does not have control over the keys for these games. |
| You cannot share games that are VAC-banned. | VAC (Valve Anti-Cheat) is a system that helps to prevent cheating in Steam games. If a game is VAC-banned, it means that someone has been caught cheating in that game. Steam does not allow games that have been VAC-banned to be shared. |
| You cannot share games that are marked as “Family Sharing incompatible.” | Some games are not compatible with Family Sharing for various reasons. These games will be marked as “Family Sharing incompatible” in your Steam library. |
| You can only share your library with five other accounts. | This is a limit set by Steam. If you want to share your library with more than five people, you will need to create additional Steam accounts. |
Benefits of Sharing Steam Games
- Cost-effectiveness: When you share games, you can split the cost of buying games with other people, which makes it cheaper for everyone.
- Access to a bigger library of games: When you share games with other people, you can play games that you don’t own yourself. This gives you more games to play without having to buy each one separately.
- Sharing games gives you the chance to play: multiplayer games with friends or family members who may not have bought the same games. This makes it easier for people to talk to each other and lets them play games together either together or against each other.
- Try before you buy: If someone in your sharing group has a game you’re interested in, you can try it out before deciding to buy it yourself. This gives you a chance to try out the game and see if it fits your tastes and interests.
- Convenience: When people share games, they don’t have to buy and install the same game for each person in the group. It makes the process easier for everyone and saves time and work.
Questions and Answers
Your Steam account can be used on more than one computer, but you can only use one at a time. For example, you can’t play a game on one computer (using your account) while someone else plays on the other computer (also using your account).
Can you move games from one Steam account to another? I’m sorry, but no. You can’t move a game directly from one Steam account to another. Once a game is bought and added to a Steam library, the license is tied to that account permanently and can’t be moved.
In your Family settings, you can turn on Library Sharing and choose which of your eligible friends you want to share your library with. Your friend must have logged into their Steam account on your computer at least once in the past and have Steam Guard turned on for their account to be eligible.
Yes. In a 90-day period, a Steam account can allow Family Library Sharing on up to 5 accounts and 10 devices. This includes accounts and devices you stopped sharing with in the same time frame. own the base game as well.