Valve has recently updated its Family Sharing feature in Steam, allowing users to create families of up to six people. These families can share their game libraries, making it easier to enjoy a variety of titles. There are, of course, certain limitations—geographical restrictions, for example—but the biggest change is the creation of a combined Family Library. This means you no longer need to borrow games from a family member as you did in the past.
However, there are still some important things to know. While sharing games is easier, only one family member can play a game at a time per copy. For example, if your Family Library only has one copy of a game, only one person will be able to play it simultaneously. If you have multiple copies of a game, however, several players can enjoy it at the same time. Additionally, a major improvement is that you are no longer kicked out of your borrowed game when the owner starts playing. The owner won’t be able to play the shared game while someone else is using it, but they can still launch any other game from their own or the combined library.
Now, let’s say you’ve followed the steps and joined a family, only to encounter an issue: you can’t launch a game from the shared library. Instead, you get an error message like, “An error occurred while launching this game—no licenses” or something similar. This can happen under several circumstances, but the fix is relatively simple.
The reason for this error is that Steam’s updated Family Sharing feature is still in beta. If you’re not running the Steam beta client, you might encounter this problem. To fix it, make sure you are running the beta version of Steam. You can opt into the beta program by enabling it in your Steam settings or by specifically joining the “Steam Families Beta.” After opting in, a restart of Steam will be required. Once you restart Steam, the error should be resolved, and you’ll be able to launch your borrowed games without issues.