Valve launches Steam Families game sharing feature in beta

Valve has announced Steam Families, a new way to share games, monitor children’s activities and streamline purchases on Steam.

Available now in beta, it will replace both Steam Family Sharing and Steam Family View.

Players can create a Steam Family group for up to six members, which can be managed from the Steam client, a mobile device or web browser.

Family members can play each other’s sharable games, although they won’t be able to play the same title simultaneously unless they own multiple copies.

Each player is able to create their own saved games, earn their own Steam achievements, and access workshop files, among other features.

“Family Sharing is a feature that developers may opt their games out of for technical or other reasons at any time,” Valve said. A list of games that currently support the feature can be found here.

Steam Families also introduces new parental controls that let adults in the group set limits on what and when children can play games.

Parents can monitor what children are playing, and choose to restrict access to various shopping and social features too.

There’s also a new payment option where a child account can request an in-family adult to purchase their shopping cart, which can be done by an adult using their mobile device or email.

To test Steam Families, players need to be opted into the Steam Family Beta. More information can be found in an official FAQ.

Steam set an all-time record of over 36.29 million concurrent players on Sunday.

Valve launched Steam‘s Spring Sale last week. Running until March 21, the promotion includes discounts on thousands of games, according to the company.