How to Gameshare on Xbox One

Gamesharing your Xbox One titles with a trusted friend is a great way to save money on gaming. You and a buddy can take turns buying games and both have access to them by switching your home Xbox setting.

In this article we look at how to gameshare on Xbox One, including a full explanation of the process and a few important points.

What Is Gamesharing?

Before we cover Xbox One gamesharing, we should explain what gamesharing actually is. Simply put, gamesharing allows you to access a friend’s Xbox One game library on your own system.

Anyone signed into an Xbox One can access their entire library of digital games on that console. However, other accounts on the same system cannot play those games. That means if a friend comes over, you can play their games on your Xbox when signed into their account, but not once they leave.

However, the Xbox One has a setting called Home Xbox. This allows you to designate a single Xbox One system as your primary console. Anyone signed into this home console can access all the digital games you own. By switching home Xbox systems with a friend, you each gain access to the other’s entire library.

This is what gamesharing on Xbox one is all about. Now let’s look at how to do it.

How to Gameshare on Xbox One

1. Find a trusted friend whom you want to share games with. Either obtain their Xbox Live login information, or invite them over so they can sign into your console.
2. Press the Xbox button on your controller to open the Guide. Use LB to scroll over to the tab with your player icon and select Add new.

3. Enter the email address and password for your friend’s Xbox account.
4. Scroll back over to the account tab and sign in as your friend if it doesn’t sign them in automatically.
5. Press the Xbox button to open the Guide again. Use RB to move over to the gear tab and select Settings.
6. Go to General > Personalization > My home Xbox. Select Make this my home Xbox.

7. Now, you can visit My Games & apps from the home screen (even from your own account) and you’ll be able to access all the games your friend owns. Switch to the Ready to install tab to easily see games you haven’t downloaded yet, and select one to download it.

After this, have your friend follow the above steps on their console with your account, and you’re all set to gameshare on Xbox One. You can both download games the other person owns, while still using your own account to play.

Things to Consider When Gamesharing on Xbox One

You should know a few important points about Xbox gamesharing before you decide to do it:

• This only works for digital games. If you want to play a game that your friend has a physical copy of, you’ll need the disc.
• Gamesharing makes Xbox Live Gold benefits available to everyone on the console, so you can take turns subscribing with your friend.
• Even better, you can gameshare titles from Xbox Game Pass (what is Xbox Game Pass?) too.
• You can’t usually share account-specific items. These include in-game currency, single-use pre-order bonuses, or items bought with in-game purchases.
• Both of you can play a shared game at the same time.
• You can only change the My home Xbox setting five times per year. This period starts when you make the first change, so take care not to change it too often.

Above all, keep in mind that you should never gameshare with people you don’t know and trust. Providing someone with your account information lets them access the payment card attached to your account, so they could go on a spending rampage on the Microsoft Store.

Plus, since your Xbox account gets you into all Microsoft services, someone with your Xbox credentials can also access your Skype, OneDrive, and Windows 10 accounts. Thus, you should only do this with someone you trust.

Thankfully, you can change your account password and gamesharing will still work fine (preventing the above scenario). Just don’t change the Home Xbox setting and you’ll be fine.

Xbox Gameshare Made Easy

Now you know how to set up and use gamesharing on your Xbox One. As long as you do this with someone you know well, it’s a great way to cut down on gaming costs.

And now that you have all those gameshared games, you’ll need a place to keep them. Check out our guide to Xbox One external hard drives to find out how to get more space on your system.

Image Credit: Ericbvd/Depositphotos

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