Nathan Darko, the indie developer behind the game Guard Duty, revealed via Twitter an upcoming Steam feature called Remote Play Together.

　　Your local multiplayer games will soon be improved with automatic support for Remote Play Together on Steam. Remote Play Together is a new Steam feature that enables two or more players to enjoy local multiplayer games over the internet, together. We think this feature will be very valuable for customers and developers and are excited about the beta. We've provided an FAQ at the bottom of this message which we think addresses most questions and concerns.

　　All local multiplayer, local co-op, and split-screen games will be automatically included in the Remote Play Together beta, which we plan to launch the week of October 21.

　　HERE’S HOW IT JUST WORKS

　　Using the Remote Play Together Beta, a player can simply launch any game with support for local multiplayer, local co-op or shared / split-screen features and then via the Steam Overlay, invite a Friend to join their game for some multiplayer fun. The invitation is just like handing a second controller to a friend. When the Friend accepts an invitation to play, it’s as though they’re playing side by side at the same machine. Much like a traditional split-screen experience, the host’s computer is running the game, but with Remote Play Together friends can join using their own controllers, voice, audio, and display — regardless of whether they also own the game on Steam.

　　Any controllers connected to the second player's computer will act as if they're plugged directly into the first computer. The player hosting the game can also choose to allow or block inputs to their shared keyboard and mouse.

　　Remote Play Together is built on top of Steam’s existing Remote Play technologies and supports up to 4 players and renders 60 frames per second at a resolution of 1080p. The feature requires a connection between 10 to 30 Mbps for a successful low-latency session, with results depending upon the Internet speeds of everyone playing. With fast connections, additional players may be supported.

　　NO ONLINE FEATURES OR SERVERS REQUIRED

　　This feature is designed to add value to multiplayer games which do not already have native online capabilities. It will soon be enjoyed among friends online using the Remote Play Together Beta, enabling fans to introduce your local multiplayer game to new audiences. Note that multiplayer games which are not explicitly designed for local play are still best enjoyed using the game’s built-in online system.

　　Truth to be told, this isn't exactly something we haven't seen before. Sony's PlayStation 4 has had it for years under the name 'Share Play', while PC users had several options such as NVIDIA GameStream Co-Op (which is now unavailable, though, as it was developed using Google's Chrome app framework that was deprecated) and PARSEC.

　　However, such a feature integrated into the Steam platform will certainly benefit game developers and gamers alike. The beta is currently scheduled to launch in the week of October 21st, so we don't have long to wait to check it out.