How To Share Games On Steam

A lot of good games on Steam require purchasing, and it costs a lot of money when you want to buy one of these games. And even if you somehow managed to save up the money to buy the game, the problem arises when you have a sibling that wants to play the same game. 

Well, why should you buy the same game twice if it’s ultimately going to be played by people of the same family, right? Luckily, Steam provides a way to share the games you own with your loved ones. So, you don’t have to worry too much if you’re in a similar situation.

Here’s everything you need to know about how to share games on Steam.

How to Share Your Games on Steam?

Sharing your games on Steam with your friends and family members is super easy, but you need to take care of some stuff before you can share your games.

Here’s the step-by-step breakdown of the complete process:

Enable Steam Guard on All Accounts

Steam Guard helps to prevent unauthorized access to your account. As you’ll be sharing each other’s accounts during this process, there is always a risk of losing your account. When you turn on the Steam Guard for your account, you’ll need to enter a unique code each time you want to log in. So, it prevents any person other than you from accessing your steam account.

Here’s how you can enable Steam Guard on your accounts:

1. Open Steam app on your device.
2. On the top-left corner of the Steam window, click on the menu named Steam.
3. Now, select Settings from the list of options.
   
4. On the Account tab, click on MANAGE STEAM GUARD ACCOUNT SECURITY.
5. Now, a new window will open with a list of options. These are basically options on how you want to receive your Steam Guard codes.
   
6. You can receive your codes either by email or on your Steam mobile app. The mobile app is an easier and quicker way to get the codes. (You can also choose the email option if you don’t have the Steam app on your phone.)

Log in to All the Accounts on Your PC

Now that you have enabled Steam Guard property on all of the accounts, the next thing to do is log in to Steam using the accounts of the users that you want to share your games with.

To do that, follow these steps:

1. Launch Steam client app on your PC.
2. Log out of your account if you have logged in already, and log back in using the accounts of the persons you want to share your games with, one by one.
3. Now, log out from that account and log in using your account again. (assuming you’re the one who owns the game)

Share the Games With Your Friends and Family Members

Now, the only thing left to do is share the games with your family members. It is actually the easiest step in this process. 

To share your games on Steam:  

1. Click on Steam from the menu bar at the top-left corner of the app. 
2. Select Settings from the options.
   
3. Click on the Family tab.
4. Check the Authorize Library Settings on this computer option.
5. Now, you’ll be able to see all the accounts of the users who have logged on to your PC.
6. Select the accounts that you want to give access to your games and click OK.

Now, when a person you’ve shared your games with opens Steam, he will see a borrow option on the shared games. They can click that button and ask for your permission to play the game. You’ll receive an email notification when someone asks for access to your games.

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How Many Devices Can You Share Your Games With?

You can share your games with up to ten devices. And you can also share them with up to five people. However, only one person can play the game at one time. So, if you want to play multiplayer games with the people you’ve shared games with, you all have to buy the game separately.

Can Two People Play the Same Game at the Same Time?

The answer is No. Only one person can be playing at any given time. Not only the same game, but you also can’t play any game from your library when someone is playing. If another person tries to play the game while someone else is playing, then one of the people will be forced to quit the game. 

However, if you, as the owner of the games, try to launch the game, you’ll get higher priority. Luckily, if the owner launches Steam games in offline mode, another person could still enjoy the game.

Do You Share All of Your Games When You Use This Method?

Yes, you will share everything in your library when you use this method to share games. Sorry to say this, but if you have some adult titles in your library, then they will be shared with everyone as well.