Three days after its debut on Steam, Activision disabled family sharing for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (opens in new tab). This change was made without notification, but according to SteamDB (opens in new tab), the feature was turned off at 12:21 p.m. ET on October 31.

Steam's Family Sharing feature was fully implemented in 2014 and, as the name implies, allows users of a shared computer ("family members and their guests" as per the Family Sharing Steam page (opens in new tab)) to save their save games and achievements to a single digital copy of the game This is a fairly generous system, allowing up to This is a fairly generous system, allowing up to five Steam accounts to access shared games on multiple devices.

However, this is not a panacea: the Family Sharing FAQ states that "Due to technical limitations, some Steam games may not be shared, including games that require third-party keys, accounts, or subscriptions."

What is odd about the Modern Warfare 2 situation is that it launched with family sharing enabled and remained so for three days until Activision pulled the plug. This suggests that the problem was not technical, but a deliberate choice on Activision's part. The fact that they quietly removed this feature a few days after launch was not well received by some players.

"You already put two hours of gameplay into the game, so now you can't get a refund," chino869 wrote on Reddit (opens in new tab). If game sharing had been banned from the get-go, I would have bought it on a console instead and enjoyed it with my family." Also, maybe they are getting ready for Warzone. Leveling up guns and their attachments takes time. The only way to level up quickly is to buy the game or buy the bundle.

"I have the game on Steam and I work so I can't play it as much as my younger cousin and I don't want both of us on the same account." If it works on PlayStation and Xbox, why can't it work on Steam?"

Some players are also angry at the perception that Activision was trying to sneak the change through without anyone noticing: "The problem is that they disabled it three days after release without saying anything," said Designer_Cockroach68.

The lack of transparency predictably leads to speculation and conjecture, ranging from "Activision wants to crack down on cheating" to "Activision wants to squeeze gamers." At this point, we have concluded that "Modern Warfare 2" cannot be shared on Steam, so this is a bit academic, but we have asked Activision for comment on this situation and will update if we hear back.