So what’s actually new or different about what has already existed for quite a while now?
Sharing your games doesn’t lock your entire library when someone is playing a different game than you in the same account.
We’ve been using it since it came available to test, and is such a lovely change from before. The check out system is so much cleaner than the old locked out of account while someone in the family is playing.
Also, you can share DLC now which is nice. I believe the old system if your share partner has the same game but without the DLC, you can’t share the DLC with them. Now they can play your version with the DLC.
Also leaving a family blocks you from joining another family for one year and the spot will also be blocked for one year
Same household only? Why can’t they just allow a certain number of people in your “family” use it? I have no kids, but I’d like to allow my siblings or in-laws use my games. They live in different cities.
I really doubt they’ve got an IP lock in place; just set up a Family and invite your siblings and in-laws.
Edit: tried it with a buddy, and it is in fact IP locked; he was unable to join until I set up a VPN for him to connect through. After initial setup, you don’t need the same IP address.
They do point out that they will be monitoring how it’s used, and could adjust things later.
Sounds like corporate-speak for “if people abuse this, we’ll lock it down harder.”
Even if people are using it to share with actual family around the country, they may get caught up in future updates that remove that feature. Also note that any publisher can opt out of the sharing. If EA or Ubi or some other big company doesn’t like the lack of limits, they may be able to force Valve’s hand in changing the policy.
The idea is wonderful, but there are a ton sof ways this could end up worse than the old system.
This is technical but you could set up a wireguard vpn server and let your friends connect to your computer. Then you all look like you are sitting in your home network from the steam servers point of view.
Or just install Tailscale which makes it even easier and is free for like 3 computers.
Your friends will have a bit of lag though since all their connections have to go through your computer to the steam network. But I believe it may not be noticeable.
Or just install Tailscale which makes it even easier and is free for like 3 computers.
Free for 100 devices! You can legit install it on every device virtual and physical device in your home and maybe run out of devices for the free plan. Right now I use it to secure the connection between my VPS proxy and my Minecraft server, as duct tape fixing some network fuckery, and as my primary means of connecting to services inside and outside of my LAN
That’s very generous of them. I thought it was just 3. :)
I think it was initially 5 before they upped it to 100. They said they initially assumed they’d have tons of people using the subnet routing to share more than the limited number of devices, but found that wasn’t the case so they upped the free accounts
Bait and switch. Stay tuned for enshittification.
Oh yeah I fully expect it at some point in the future. Right now their business model appears to be “get the nerds hooked on using it on their personal stuff to see how awesome it is to then sell enterprise licenses” and they’re in the “establish growth” phase so I think there’s a few years before enshitification begins.
There is a competitor called Netbird that does similar and is fully open source and self-hostable. I haven’t tried it yet but it looks good on (virtual) paper
I don’t think they put a restriction on household Internet IP, just that you can only share with people within your region.
Region meaning country/continent? One of them lives across the country.
Region meaning country
