Google Stadia's Long Awaited Family Sharing Is Finally Here

If multiple people in your household are currently sharing a Google Stadia account, here's some good news: Google is finally beginning to send Stadia's long-requested Family Sharing feature live. As the name suggests, Stadia Family Sharing allows users to share games with other people in the same Google family group, which means that families really only need one Stadia account – and purchase games once – for everyone to be able to play games.

Google shared the news on Reddit, announcing that the roll out of this feature will take about a week – so if you're not seeing right away, you may still have some time before it goes live for your account. In any case, Google has put together a new support page regarding Family Sharing that explains what it entails.

Anyone using Stadia can take advantage of Family Sharing, so this isn't a feature that requires a Stadia Pro subscription. If you are subscribed to Stadia Pro, however, you'll be able to share the free games you've redeemed with that subscription with other people, so multiple people in a family group will be able to benefit from a single Stadia Pro subscription.

Of course, you'll need to set up a family group before you're able to use the feature, and you can do that either through the Stadia website or the Stadia app. In the app, you'll need to tap your avatar, then tap "Family" and select "Get started" before following the prompts to create a family group. On the website, the process is much the same, as you'll need to select your avatar, then select "Stadia Settings > Family > Get Started."

From there, you'll be able to add a payment method and manage how you share your games, whether you decide to share individual titles or the whole library. Keep in mind that once someone begins playing a game, it'll be locked for everyone else, so there are some restrictions to how many people can play a given game at the same time. If you're a Stadia user, hit the support page above for more information and check your app to see if the feature is live for you.