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Game sharing

Can You Share Steam Games With Family? How Steam Families Works

Steam Families shares eligible games among a household of up to six close family members, but simultaneous play of the same title requires multiple copies.

By VGSources Team 3 min read
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Yes. Steam Families lets up to six close family members in a household share eligible games while using their own Steam accounts, saves and achievements. Different members can play different shared games at the same time; playing the same game simultaneously requires enough copies for everyone playing.

What Steam Families does

Valve introduced Steam Families as a combined replacement for Steam Family Sharing and Steam Family View. It became available to all Steam users on September 11, 2024, according to Valve’s announcement and September 11 client update.

Valve describes a Steam Family as intended for a household of up to six close family members. Members may be adults or children. When someone joins, they gain access to other members’ shareable games, and their own shareable games become available to the family. The game license stays with its original owner: each person plays on their own account and keeps separate saves and achievements.

How many copies do you need to play together?

Members can use different games from the family libraries at the same time, even if another family member is online playing a different game from their library. A game can be played simultaneously by multiple family members only when the family has enough copies of that particular game.

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Valve illustrates the rule with Portal 2: one copy lets one family member play at a time; a second copy permits another member to play at the same time. You do not need duplicate copies merely because two people are playing different shared games.

Which Steam games can be shared?

Sharing is not guaranteed for every title. The game’s developer decides whether it supports Family Sharing and can opt out. Valve says games that were eligible under the earlier Family Sharing system remain eligible unless their developer opts out. Some games also cannot be shared because of technical limits—for example, a title that requires a third-party key, account or subscription.

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Check the individual game’s Steam Store page before relying on access, since eligibility can change. A shared game can be played offline only if that specific game supports Family Sharing.

Who can join, and where can family members live?

Steam Families is intended for a household of up to six close family members. Valve’s published guidance does not establish a universal address, IP-address or device-location test, so it would be misleading to promise that members can join from any location—or to claim they must all use the same IP address. For a particular membership question, consult Steam Support’s Steam Families FAQ.

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How parental controls and child purchase requests work

Adults can manage invitations and parental controls. Available controls let adults:

  • Allow access to age-appropriate games.
  • Restrict access to the Steam Store, Community or Friends Chat.
  • Set hourly or daily playtime limits and review playtime reports.
  • Approve or deny a child’s request for extra playtime or access to a feature.

A child can also ask an adult in the family to pay for a shopping cart. Once the adult approves the request, the games are added to the child’s account.

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Leaving a Steam Family or changing members

Adults may leave a Steam Family at any time, but there is a one-year wait from joining the previous family before they can create or join another one. A vacated family slot also has a one-year cooldown before a new member can take it. Children cannot leave on their own; an adult in the family or Steam Support must remove them. Adults can remove members.

One important ban consequence

If a family member is banned for cheating while playing another member’s copy of a game, the owner of that copy is also banned in that game. Valve says other family members are not affected.

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