Steam Families has officially launched with a big Steam Client Update
Available now for Steam Desktop and Steam Deck, Valve has officially launched the new Steam Families system in a stable Steam Client Update.
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Oh no, what bullshit is it this time?
Steam Families is actually awesome, they re-did how the sharing feature works for families and it works great. I’ve been using it for months with my Dad and my son’s accounts and it’s great. Works good on the Steam Deck too. I’ve actually been waiting for it to come out of beta so I can get Decky Loader back on my Steam Deck.
Well, there are downsides to it as well. They limited the amount of family members to 6 in total. Which if you have 3 brothers, nephews, wife playing is not really enough. Also, the one year removal / delay before joining a different family is bullcrap. Imagine someone breaking up after moving in together and having to wait like 9 months before they can join a different one.
Just to clarify on this, the old "Steam family share" was limited to 5 accounts. "Steam families" allows 6 accounts, which is an increase. It also doesn't require the inconvenient logging into multiple accounts on everyone's individual device, which was annoying.
The big thing I view as a downgrade is that it doesn't allow sharing outside of your household. My brother and I have used family share for years even though we don't live together anymore. However, he could not join my "Family" today because steam identifies him as being in a different household. Thankfully, family share still works for now.
Worse than that, the slot they left is also locked out for a year. Although you can return to your previous spot freely, so break up and make up is fine.
I get why, if it were too flexible publishers would fear sales loss and opt out en masse but still feels rather long.
