Steam to launch 'Remote Play Together', allowing players to play local multiplayer games online

steam thingy.png
Dubbed 'Remote Play Together', this new Steam feature will allow players to enjoy local multiplayer games online "just like handing a second controller to a friend". Moreover, only the host needs to own the game and can thereby send invites to Friends via the Steam Overlay.

invite.png

Remote Play Together will be compatible with any game supporting local multiplayer, local co-op or shared / split-screen features. This new addition will support up to 4 players and renders 60 frames per second at a resolution of 1080p (requires a connection between 10 to 30 Mbps for a successful low-latency session). A beta is planned to launch the week of October 21.

Valve made the announcement via the Steamworks website to developers, some of whom shared the news publicly. The message also reads that "this feature is designed to add value to multiplayer games which do not already have native online capabilities. It will soon be enjoyed among friends online using the Remote Play Together Beta, enabling fans to introduce your local multiplayer game to new audiences."

What game comes to your mind that will benefit from this feature?

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FAST6191

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Finally! This will open up so many games!
Will it? Splitscreen or multiplayer on one PC was a running joke at one point -- pretty much just emulators and a handful of oddities like left4dead which did it, and worse was PC ports of local multiplayer sporting console games often lacked such functionality. I have not paid the closest attention to the PC indy market in a while, nor the higher end budget one, but I have not been bombarded with local co-op/multiplayer news either.
 

TehCupcakes

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Will it? Splitscreen or multiplayer on one PC was a running joke at one point -- pretty much just emulators and a handful of oddities like left4dead which did it, and worse was PC ports of local multiplayer sporting console games often lacked such functionality. I have not paid the closest attention to the PC indy market in a while, nor the higher end budget one, but I have not been bombarded with local co-op/multiplayer news either.
Local multiplayer is usually ignored when online is an option. But whenever a game releases without online multiplayer, the developers get bombarded with people demanding online. One example: Stardew Valley added online after great demand, despite the significant development effort. Other games are not so lucky. Think Spelunky, Binding of Isaac, Enter the Gungeon, Cuphead. You probably haven't noticed the local multiplayer of AAA games because they have the budget to throw in online functionality from the get-go to avoid this kind of criticism.

Local multiplayer has the benefit of only needing one copy, which is big for some people. There are a lot of games I would be willing to buy to play them with somebody, but my friends are not necessarily going to have the cash or the willingness to buy it for themselves before trying it. (And, of course, those friends are not necessarily geographically close enough for us to play together locally on a regular basis.)
 
Last edited by TehCupcakes,

pedro702

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maybe im out of the loop but i dont recall many games being local multiplayer games on PC, i mean on consoles is one thing on pc its kinda rare to see local multiplayer, and those who do almost all the time already have online multiplayer aswhell correct me if im wrong, but the ammount of steam multiplayer games that only has local multiplayer without having online aswhell must be really tiny imo.
 

frankGT

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If every player had to have the game and all games were running locally and being synced in the server side so all experience the same "normal" online lag just for the other players, that would be of value.
Could have an option to lend a digital copy locked to that purpose, where you could only play it if the original owner was on the game.

But it seem the game might to be processed locally on the owners computer, and other players have to experience the mess that is send inputs before video is even is processed, let alone sent using questionable networks...
If it ends up being like this, might be good for turn based games or something that doesn't require constant real time input/interaction.
 

DbGt

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i wish it would be the other way around; play online multiplayer games like local multiplayer. So many games I want to play with my wife but they are only online co- op / multiplayer

There are not many local multiplayer games on pc....
 

deSSy2724

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If we just could use its feautures as passtrough for all the LAN compatible games (im speaking non Steam games, PC emulators, maybe even games from other platforms like Switch).

Man...... we just need some alternative for the Tunngle LAN (it was shutdown) or something similar (universal solution) which would support all the LAN compatible games for different platforms.
 
Last edited by deSSy2724,

GothicIII

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The lack of new *good* local multiplayer games makes me wonder if this will be even a success.
Using Towerfall as an example is pretty dumb. With input lag (which is not possible to overcome see playstation now or other streaming services) it will be a very hard time for the player who wants to join.
(Personally I played Towerfall on PS4 Pro with a friend and it was such a bad experience. Input delays and eaten input was often the case and we both have fiber to home. Ping times have been 8ms)

For other games I'd guess -as long as it is free- this is a nice feature but way too late.
Nearly all games today are one player on one device.
 
Last edited by GothicIII,
D

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I've been using Parsec to achieve the same result for a while now (because I don't have friends, at least in person anyway), and I'm glad that we're getting an official alternative, because we can get things that Parsec simply can't.
 

bahamut920

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This sounds cool in theory. In practice you better live in a place with fast internet or Lag will haunt you.
I think the kinds of low-budget indie games that can't afford to throw in netcode by default aren't going to be too demanding on your Internet connection. I guess don't play Warriors games online? They're pretty much the only AAA games I know that have local-only multiplayer.
 

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