Steam has announced a new feature in their system called “Remote Play Together.” According to them, it is designed to allow local multiplayer games to turn into online experiences. This means that users can now enjoy their friend’s games even without owning or buying the game themselves.
The Remote Play Together will allow two or more players to enjoy local multiplayer games. It works together by a host player inviting their friends to join their local multiplayer game via Steam Overlay. Once their friend accepts the invitation, the game will run automatically through their computer, and they can begin playing together.
In this setup, the host player will handle all the processing, while their friend hooks in with their connection, controllers, and microphone. This makes the game run without it existing in their friend’s Steam library.
Steam sent an official email out to game developers, informing them that any games that feature local co-op, split-screen, or multiplayer mechanics will be supported by this feature.
According to the email, the new Remote Play Together feature is designed to add value to multiplayer games that do not have native online capabilities. Due to this new feature, games with multiplayer gameplay will soon be enjoyed among friends online. This will enable fans to introduce their local multiplayer games to new audiences.
Steam also noted that multiplayer games which were not designed for local play are still best played using the game’s built-in online system.
The Remote Play Together feature went live in Steam Beta last October 21 on gaming PC.