There’s a company called Parsec with a cloud gaming service that claims to allow you to jump into single-player games that don’t have online multiplayer, but player experience and reviews of the software seem to be mixed. Steam isn’t the first company to offer a product like this, but it’s not clear how well the alternatives work. Only the host needs to own a copy of a game in order to play it. Connection speed required varies by title, but Valve recommends between 10-30Mbps for smooth gameplay.
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The feature was constructed using Steam’s existing remote play technologies and supports up to four players streaming in 1080p at 60fps. Keyboards and mice plugged into Player #2’s computer will behave as if they are plugged into Player #1’s machine, and the game host can choose to block or allow inputs to the shared keyboard and mouse. While certain genres, like fighting games, still offer a local mode, many games that used to have retired the option. Local co-op hung on as a common feature for years after the internet became available, but as the quality of online matches improved, developers began to put less emphasis on local play (cooperative or competitive) as a whole. In the early days of gaming, local multiplayer was just called “multiplayer.” Dividing a CRT into two or four panels might leave everyone playing on a postage stamp, but we managed to have fun anyway. It’s a little odd when you think about it.
Local multiplayer has become a rare capability in many titles. The new feature, dubbed Remote Play Together, allows non-local players to play games that typically require two or more players in the same physical location. If it works, it might encourage more developers to invest in this capability in the first place. Valve has added a new capability to Steam that should make it much easier to find other people to play local cooperative multiplayer games with.