The new Steam Families feature means it’s easier than ever to share Steam games with family members. The feature also introduces new parental controls, allowing parents to control when and what their children can play.
Steam Families Is Now Available for Everyone
After a period of beta testing earlier this year, Valve’s new Steam Families feature is available for everyone to use.
As explained in a Steam News post, Steam Families replaces both Steam Family Sharing and Steam Family View. It combines the features of both of those, and adds some extras for good measure. All of which are designed to make it easier for families who play games together.
What You Can Do With Steam Families
Steam Families can be broken down into three parts: Family Sharing, Parental Controls, and Child Purchase Requests.
Family Sharing is the headline feature, as it allows families of up to six people to share their libraries of games. Not all games are shareable, but those that are shareable will appear in the Family Library section. As long as one person owns a title, anyone in the family can play it. However, you’ll need multiple copies of a game in order for two or more people to play it at the same time.
Parental Controls offer parents the tools they need to help their kids enjoy gaming without it taking over their lives. Any adult member of a family can manage permissions for children, which includes limiting access to certain games, setting playtime limits, and restricting access to the Store, Community, or Chat functions. Adults can also restore a child’s account if they forget their password.
Child Purchase Requests offers a new payment option allowing adults in a family to purchase a Steam game when requested. A child member of a family can add games to their shopping cart, and then ask an adult to pay for them remotely. This can be done by email or on a mobile device, with the games added to the child’s account upon approval and payment.
Making Steam More User-Friendly Than Ever
Steam was already the most user-friendly way of buying, managing, and playing PC games. And there are plenty of reasons why everyone should use Steam. The new Steam Families feature only adds to that. If you were already using Steam Family Sharing and Steam Family View, then switching over to Steam Families is a no-brainer.
The simplified sharing options are the headline feature, as they allow you to maintain ownership of a title (and your save games and achievements) while still sharing it with other members of your family. However, the parental controls and child purchase requests functions are added bonuses.
