Steam game sharing code found in client's beta update

As the furore over the game sharing policies of the new consoles continues, it's easy as a PC user to look on bewildered. You can't share games; they're not even real! They're an intangible entity pushed through magic underground tubes, like some non-corporeal spirit of entertainment haunting your hard-drive. But if some lines of code found in the latest Steam beta program are to be believed, Valve may be looking at the possibility of taming that spirit - bringing a game sharing infrastructure to the client.

"SteamUI_JoinDialog_SharedLicense_Title" "Shared game library"

"SteamUI_JoinDialog_SharedLicenseLocked_OwnerText" "Just so you know, your games are currently in use by %borrower%. Playing now will send %borrower% a notice that it's time to quit."

"SteamUI_JoinDialog_SharedLicenseLocked_BorrowerText" "This shared game is currently unavailable. Please try again later or buy this game for your own library."

To see the code for yourself, you'll need to opt in to the latest Steam Beta, then head to Public/steamui_english.txt in your Steam folder. Beyond looking at it and saying "oh yeah, that's neat," there really isn't much to do at this point. And, of course, this could all be part of a test with no real plan for release. Hopefully we'll hear something official soon.

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Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.