Valve brings beta of shared game libraries to digital distribution platform Steam

Valve is adding a new feature to its digital distribution platform, Steam. The feature, called Steam Family Sharing, will allow users to share games with those who share your computer but have their own Steam account. Essentially, if you want to share your Steam game library with someone you share a computer with, you can authorise the computer, which will allow others to play the game on the computer using their own Steam accounts, giving them their own achievements and Steam Cloud saves.

The venn diagram depicts sharing, I think

There are some catches, though. For example, both the owner of the Steam library and whoever it is being shared with can’t access the library at the same time. The original owner will always have access to the library, though, whether it’s on the shared computer or another one entirely. The person using the shared library will get the option to buy the game or quit if the original owner tries to access their Steam game library. The Family Sharing feature can be used on up to 10 devices per account.

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As it currently stands, not all games are compatible with it. Since it’s in beta and there are still some kinks to work out, Steam Family Sharing only works with some games right now. Others games that use an additional third-party key, for example, can’t be shared. Borrowers will also be able to play DLC on the shared library. They can’t, however, buy new DLC for the shared games library. They will instead have to buy their own copy of the game and then buy the DLC.