The Steam update you've been waiting for is finally here
After a beta period earlier this year, Steam's new family sharing system and parental controls hub is now available for everyone. Steam Families is replacing both Family Sharing and Family View, creating a nucleus for all your game-sharing needs.
A Steam Family can comprise up to six members (including yourself), and the full libraries of all the users will be available to the 'family' unit, except for games where developers have opted out of sharing for whatever reason. No longer will you need to feel bad if you're watching your big brother play a game that you want – you can share the title across devices, just not at the same time.
The most important upgrade to Steam's game-sharing update is the ability for you and your family to play games from your library at the same time. For example, your wife can play your copy of Cyberpunk 2077 while you play Warzone concurrently with no issues. And while playing one copy at the same time is still a no-go, if there are two copies of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 within your family's shared library, you and your brother can play together.
With Steam Families, each user will have their own save files, earn Steam achievements, access workshop files and more. That's a lot of freedom for a child to have on Steam – which is why parental control are also key additions.
There are two member (or 'role') options within Steam Families – adult and child. Adults can manage member invites and apply account restrictions, while children are subject to controls put in place by the adults, and have no managerial power.
As an adult, you control what games children have access to, can restrict their access to the Steam Store, Friends Chat and Community, set playtime limits and recover your child's account if they lose their password.
Purchasing games for kids is also easier thanks to Steam Families. Usually buying a game for a child requires an adult to complete a gift purchase or let them borrow your card. Now, children have the ability to add games
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