Wednesday 11 September 2013

Steam Family Sharing Announced, Enters Beta

Valve has announced a Family Sharing system for Steam, allowing users to share their entire game libraries with family and friends. Users may only access a shared library one at a time -- so if you're playing something, anyone who wants to access your games has to wait. The library owner will always take the priority, so if someone's in your library and you want to play Peggle, they'll have a few minutes to quit playing or purchase the game they're running.

Many may remember the prospect of family sharing on Xbox One, which recently vanished in favor of Gold Sharing, but could return to the console.

Steam accounts can authorize sharing on up to 10 devices at a time, however not every Steam game will necessarily be available for sharing -- external services (Origin, Uplay, etc.), subscriptions, and other tech limitations may prevent you from playing someone else's games. Borrowers will, Valve notes, also have access to an owners DLC content. Region restrictions may limit what you're able to share or lend, depending on the territories of the owner/freeloader.

You can register for the beta now.

Mitch Dyer is an Associate Editor at IGN. He’s currently reading David Benioff’s City of Thieves. Read his ramblings on Twitter, follow him on IGN, and listen to him on Podcast Unlocked .


Source : ign[dot]com

No comments:

Post a Comment