How to Share PS5 Games With Family and Friends

One of the less talked about perks of buying PS5 games digitally is the ability to share them between accounts. Once you know how, it’s easy to share a game with a family member or friend and have both of you playing it at the same time. It sounds too good to be true, as it effectively allows one purchased game to be split between two players simultaneously, but it works. This can result in a lot of money saved, though it’s important to play by PlayStation’s rules. Here’s how to share PS5 games with family and friends.

How to share digital PS5 games between accounts

To share PS5 games between accounts and give family and friends access, users must:

1. First, set your family member’s or friend’s PS5 as your Primary Console.
   • Log into your account on their system.
   • Then head to Settings > Users and Accounts > Other > Console Sharing and Offline Play and select “Enable.”
   • Now any games owned by you will be playable by any of the accounts on that new Primary Console.
2. Now, log into your own console.
   • Your console will no longer be the Primary Console.
   • This means that games can only be played by your account and no other accounts on your system.
   • However, any account on the new Primary Console can access your games at the same time.
   • There are some limitations when trying to play offline, so be mindful of that.
3. When you want to share a new game, use your account to purchase it and begin the download.
4. Now log into your account on the family member’s or friend’s console and begin downloading the game there, too.
   • If you don’t manually log out of your account on your console first, it will kick you. Don’t worry, as this is normal.
5. As soon as both downloads have been completed, both PS5 systems can access those games.

Can you get banned for sharing PS5 accounts?

Provided the account holder logs into their own account on both systems, it is currently safe to share PS5 games between accounts in this way.

It is perfectly fine to activate someone elses console as your Primary PS4 to share games between accounts, but sharing account details is not something we encourage. This isn't a new rule, as it is something we've advised against for a long time. ^DB

— Ask PlayStation UK (@AskPS_UK) October 7, 2020

It is the sharing of account information that could land users in hot water.

Hunting for more helpful PlayStation guides? Here’s how to improve PS Plus Game Streaming quality, how to stop the PS5 controller battery from draining so fast, and how to know if the PS5 is running at 120 Hz.