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Between Family Sharing and Family View on Steam, the game sharing features of the platform have historically been a bit difficult to manage. However, an update makes family sharing more streamlined and easier to use.
Steam Families: What Has Changed? How Does It Work?
Steam Family Sharing wasn’t a family-centric feature. It was just a way to share games with other accounts that didn’t necessarily have to be your family. However, Valve released theSteam Families Betaon August 15, 2025, and the update changes that.
One of the biggest changes is a new quality-of-life feature. Now you’re able to play games from other family members' libraries, even if the owner is online playing another game—solving a nuisance that many gamers sharing their libraries experienced. And if someone owns multiple copies of a game, multiple people can play the same title at the same time.
The update also revamps the whole sharing system, including replacing Family Sharing and Family View. Here’s a quick rundown of what Steam Families brings:
These changes allow you to truly have a parental system for Steam, much like akid’s account for Netflixor YouTube.
How to Enter the Steam Families Beta
If you want to try out the new hub for yourself, you need to enter the Steam Families beta. To do this, open Steam and head toSettings > Interface > Client Beta Participation, then chooseSteam Families Betain the dropdown menu.
It will prompt you to accept, then the client will restart and update Steam. Once it has updated, you can access your family controls by going toSettings > Family> Manage your Steam Family. This view is where you can see all the Steam Family features and parental controls once you’ve made your family and invited your children.
If you need to make space for new games, make sure touse Steam’s Storage Managerto conveniently manage your installs.
The Pros and Cons of Steam Families
Steam Families are for close-knit families of up to six members, as Steam intends for this to be a feature for users that belong to the same household. This means there are some rules on how Steam Families operate, especially when it comes to cheating, leaving the Steam Family, or joining a new one.
Some of the benefits of Steam Families include:
Some of the drawbacks of the feature include:
Steam Families is still in beta, but it introduces a lot of new perks that a parent or guardian would find useful. Even if you’re not a gamer yourself, having a Steam account and starting your own Steam Family is something you can do as a benefit for your children.
