eli5 How do game developers lose the source code? Can’t they get the code from the discs like modders and speedrunners do?

Question

I just found out that Konami somehow lost the source code to the PS2 version of Silent Hill so they had to recreate it. How do they lose it and why can’t they get it from a random game disc? Isn’t that how modders, emulators, and speedrunners see the code?

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Answer 1

the game disc is like a cake, the source code is the recipe for that cake. if you taste the cake you can sorta guess what’s in it and how it is made, but it doesn’t have all exact information to make the cake and what is in it