Intro

Steam Family Sharing is not a new feature as people could enjoy each other’s libraries for quite a while now. However, the main problem that the feature had, locking everyone out of the library if one person is using it, is now going away. This is all in beta currently and you can join immediately or wait for the full release.

Steam Family Sharing improvements

If you share your Steam library with a family member now, they can play any game from it as long as you don’t use the library. In example, if you share the library with your significant other and they start playing Baldur’s Gate 3 but you then go to play Helldivers 2, the partner will get a warning they will be booted out of Baldur’s Gate 3 in a few minutes because of you playing a completely different game.

When the improvements kick in, you will be able to play Helldivers 2 without interrupting your partner’s attempts to get into Astarion’s pants.

Some limitations still apply but these are much more reasonable. For example, if the partner also wants to play Helldivers 2, the family will need to purchase another copy of the game before both of you can hop in. If the couple has kids and they all want to play Baldur’s Gate 3 in a single party, they will need copies of the game. However, if the family has 4 members in total and only 2 of them want to play the same game at the same time, having just 2 copies will be enough.

On the topic of kids, there will also be additional tools to monitor, limit and allow their activity on Steam, such locking them out of the store while allowing purchase requests which you can allow, deny or let marinate for a while. You can also recover a child’s account credentials if they lost them.

How to join the beta test

To participate in the new Steam Families beta, you will need to complete a few quick steps:

1. Open Steam
2. Click on “Steam” in the top left corner
3. Choose “Settings”
4. Choose “Interface” in the list to the left
5. In the “Client Beta participation” on the right side, click the drop-down menu
6. Choose “Steam Families Beta”

When you opt into the beta, you will see the new family management features if you go to the default Steam UI, click your username in the top right corner and choose “Account details: <Your Username>”. Then click on “Family Management” in the menu to the left.

Heads up

An account can’t go joining families willy nilly. After entering a Steam Family, a year will have to pass before they can create or join a new family.

Adult family members can kick other members out of a family but the same cooldown applies so be careful.

If a family member cheats while using your library and gets detected, both of you will be banned.

You can read all the details on the official post but we’ve covered the most impactful ones in the article.