Valve today announced that it will launch a Family Sharing feature to allow Steam users to share their game libraries with other accounts on up to 10 additional devices.

Steam Family Sharing, which will launch in a private beta in mid-September, lets users share their entire library with up to 10 devices rather than sharing individual games. Only one person can play any game from the shared library at any given time, meaning you can't use your own Steam account while someone else is actively sharing in it. This limitation makes Family Sharing somewhat similar to simply giving someone else access to your Steam library by sharing your username and password. However, this way there's no risk to your account details or e-commerce information in the process.

Steam users can share access either by enabling it in their account settings or by responding to requests to share sent by other Steam users. Borrowers will still be limited by regional restrictions on the original game, and lenders can have sharing privileges taken away if a borrower is caught engaging in cheating or fraud. All DLC purchased by the lender will be available to the borrower, but Valve warns that some games "that require an additional third-party key, account, or subscription" may not be shareable.

Steam's Family Sharing plan is very similar to a plan Microsoft originally discussed for the all-digital ecosystem initially planned for the Xbox One. That plan, whose details were always quite vague, was eventually scrapped when Microsoft backtracked on its game licensing plans. Still, Microsoft has been making noise about introducing a "hybrid" model sometime in the future, which would allow for sharing features on downloaded libraries while keeping disc-based games distinct and unshareable.