To game share on PS5, sign in with the account that owns the digital games, open Settings, then Users and Accounts, then Other, then Console Sharing and Offline Play, and choose Enable. That makes the console you are sitting at your account’s one designated console, and every local profile on it can play your library and use some PlayStation Plus benefits, offline included. Sony’s own name for the feature is Console Sharing and Offline Play; game share and gameshare are just the terms players use once they point this setting at a friend’s console instead of their own living room.
How to Turn On Console Sharing and Offline Play
The setting lives in one place, and PlayStation Support’s own pages still describe this exact path as of September 2026, though Sony notes menu wording can shift with future system software updates. From the PS5 home screen:
- Open Settings (the gear icon, top right).
- Select Users and Accounts.
- Select Other.
- Select Console Sharing and Offline Play.
- Choose Enable.
You must be signed in as the account whose games you are sharing. Once enabled, that PS5 becomes your account’s designated console. Any local user profile on it, not only the one you signed in with, can open the games and apps tied to your library, and can do so with the console offline, since no connection is needed to launch something you already own.
Sharing Your Library With a Friend’s Console
Sony built Console Sharing and Offline Play around one household and one console, but two people commonly use it across two consoles by trading the setup step. This is what most people mean by gameshare on PS5:
- On your friend’s PS5, add a new user and sign in with your PSN account, email and password.
- From that profile, follow the steps above to turn on Console Sharing and Offline Play for your account, on their console.
- Sign out of your account on their console once it is enabled.
- Your friend’s own local profile can now open and play anything in your library, offline, without needing your password again.
- Your friend repeats the same process on your PS5 with their account, so you get the same access to their library.
Enabling sharing only grants the license check, not a finished install. Whoever will actually play a game still has to download it on the console that plays it, so a large open-world title still costs the same drive space and download time it always would.
The One-Console Limit
Each PlayStation account can hold Console Sharing and Offline Play on only one console at a time. Turn it on for a new console, such as a friend’s, and Sony switches it off wherever it was active before, including your own PS5. The moment your friend’s console becomes your shared console, your own console stops receiving that shared license until you sign back in there and reactivate it. In practice this rules out sharing one library with two friends at once: you can only be actively sharing one console, so a second person needs the same swap, and your own living room is the one waiting in between.
What the Other Account Can and Cannot Access
Console Sharing and Offline Play carries specific PlayStation Plus benefits along with the game license, and PlayStation Support documents the split precisely.
| Benefit | Shared with the other account? |
|---|---|
| Online multiplayer | Yes, while the sharing account’s PS Plus is active, subject to parental controls |
| Games bought at a PS Plus discount | Yes, downloadable and playable by other local users |
| Monthly PS Plus games already claimed | Yes |
| PS Plus Game Catalog and Classics Catalog titles | Yes, tier-dependent, while downloaded |
| Trophies | No, each PSN account earns and keeps its own |
| Cloud (online) storage for save data | No, personal to the subscriber |
| PS Plus discount pricing in the Store | No, only the subscriber gets the discounted price |
| Redeeming a PS Plus game on another account | No |
| Early access to time-limited trials | No, subscriber only |
| Automatic patch downloads | No |
Trophies deserve their own note because they are the most common gamesharing misconception. A trophy belongs to the PSN account that earns it, not to the console or the game license. If your friend plays your shared copy of a game under their own local profile, the platinum they earn posts to their account, not yours, and the same is true in reverse.
Security Risks of Sharing a PSN Login
The two-console method above requires typing your email and password into someone else’s console, even briefly. That is a real exposure, not a formality.
- Whoever is signed in can see and change account details, including the email and password themselves, while the session is active.
- A saved password manager or browser autofill on a shared device can leave your credentials behind after you sign out.
- If the console stays signed into your account rather than switching users, anyone who later picks up that console has your account open.
- Sharing a login only makes sense with someone you would trust with your email inbox, since PSN account recovery runs through email and, when enabled, two-step verification codes.
Turning on 2-step verification before you gameshare, then changing your password afterward, closes most of that exposure without giving up the feature. It will not stop the other console from keeping your license active, so plan to disable sharing yourself when the arrangement ends rather than assuming it expires on its own.
How to Turn Off Console Sharing and Offline Play
Disabling it uses the same menu, run from the console that currently holds the sharing status: Settings, then Users and Accounts, then Other, then Console Sharing and Offline Play, then Disable. If you no longer have physical access to that console, for example after a falling-out, sign in to your account on PlayStation’s website, open Account Management and its device list, and deactivate all consoles from there. Sony limits that remote reset to roughly once every six months, so treat it as a last resort rather than routine housekeeping.
Frequently asked questions
Can I game share with more than one friend at the same time?
No. Console Sharing and Offline Play runs on only one console per account at a time, so turning it on for a second friend’s console automatically switches it off for the first.
Do I need PlayStation Plus to game share on PS5?
No subscription is required to share games you have bought outright. The shared online multiplayer and Game Catalog access, though, only pass through while the account that enabled sharing has an active PS Plus membership.
Will gamesharing get my account banned?
Console Sharing and Offline Play is a built-in PlayStation feature, not a workaround, and Sony frames it around a household or a partner sharing one console. There is no published policy against using it with a friend on a second console; reselling shared access at a commercial scale is a different matter and falls under normal PSN account terms.
Does the other account see my messages or friends list?
Not through their own local profile; local users only see their own social features. The exposure is limited to the moment you are actually signed into your full account on their console to switch the setting on.
What happens to my library if I disable console sharing?
The other console loses the offline license and can no longer open your shared games once sharing is disabled or moved to a different console. Anything the other person bought under their own account is unaffected.