Although you can still go over to a friend’s house and play their games there or vice versa, it’s so much easier to use the Share Play feature on the PS5.
There are still perks to physically hanging out with your friends, but it’s nice to know that there’s a digital option for when you can’t actually drive to their house or when you have PlayStation friends that live states or countries away.
But what exactly is Share Play and how can you and your friends use it to your advantage? Is Share Play the best option for you? We’ll answer those questions and more in this article.
What Is Share Play?
Share Play is an awesome feature of the PS5 that allows you to share your games with your friends and vice versa. There are two different ways you can use the PS5’s Share Play feature.
Share Your PS5 Games With Friends
First, you can use Share Play by letting a friend use your account to play a game they don’t own. Any game that’s currently in your library is fair game for your friend to play.
And if your friend hasn’t upgraded yet from the PS4 to the PS5, they can still take advantage of the Share Play feature through your account, and even play PS5 games!
Play a Game With a Friend Using Share Play
Or, you can use Share Play to play a co-op or multiplayer game with a friend to be a part of the action too.
When you let your friend take over your screen and play a single-player game, you can’t exit the session or play anything else until they’re done.
What Do You Need to Use Share Play?
In order to use Share Play, here’s what you’ll need:
- A PlayStation Plus subscription
- A PS5 or a friend who owns a PS5
- Another PS5 or a PS4
- A good internet connection (try for an upload speed of at least two megabits per second, but preferably five megabits per second)
The most important thing here is that someone needs to own a PS5, whether it’s you or the friend you’re trying to game with. The second player, however, can use a PS4 or a PS5.
It’s worth mentioning that if the game you’re trying to play isn’t available in your friend’s PlayStation Store, Share Play won’t work for that game. Also, if your friend has parental controls set up or their age is lower than a game’s age rating, Share Play also won’t work.
How to Use Share Play
The first thing you’ll need to do to use Share Play on your PS5 is create a party with the friend you want to share or play a game with.
To do this, press the PS button on your controller, select Game Base from the bottom menu, and to the right of View All Parties, select the + icon on the screen. Select the friend you want in your party and you’re good to go.
Once you have a party created, select that party to open it up. Then select Voice Chat > Join. You have to be in an active voice chat with your friend in order to use Share Play.
Once you’re in a voice chat and you’re in your Voice Chat | Party screen, you should see where it says Share Screen | Share Play. Select the icon underneath this that looks like a person with a TV in front of them. When you select this icon, you should see a menu pop up with the options of Start Share Play and Learn More.
If you select Learn More, it’ll give you a brief description of each Share Play mode. To start your Share Play session, you’ll need to select Start Share Play. Once you select that, you’ll see any active members in your voice chat pop up.
Keep in mind that even if there are multiple people in your voice chat, you can only use Share Play with one friend at a time.
Select the friend you’re trying to start a Share Play session with. Once you select your friend, you’ll need to select a play mode, pictured below.
Your friend will have to accept an invitation on their end before the Share Play session officially starts. Then, the Share Play session will only last for an hour at a time, which carries problems of its own.
There’s no limit to the amount of Share Play sessions you start, but each Share Play session can only last for a maximum of sixty minutes. This feature kind of stinks if you’re playing a co-op game because you might have to stop in the middle of a level. But the feature is there so players don’t abuse the Share Play system.
And if you ever need to stop the Share Play session before the timer is up, press the PS button, select Game Base from the bottom menu, and select the party you’re in. Then, select View Voice Chat > Share Screen | Share Play > Stop Share Play. Your friend will still be able to see your screen until you end the screen sharing function.
Have Fun Playing With Friends
Share Play is an awesome way for people who haven’t managed to snag a PS5 yet to try out PS5 games if they have a friend who did manage to buy one. As long as one person in your friend circle has a PS5, anyone else who owns a PS4 can try out any game through Share Play.
And if you’re one of those unlucky few who haven’t gotten your hands on a PS5 yet, you might keep waiting until next year. There are quite a few reasons you should wait, the biggest being that Sony may not even be able to produce more for retail until next year.