How do video game companies sometimes “lose” the source code to an older title? Do they not back up resources, and can they not somehow extract it from an existing copy or disc of said game?
In: Technology
As other comments state, it’s impossible to get the original source code back from the compiled binary end product, since lots of useful information is lost in the compilation process, and what’s left, while functionally equivalent, will be hard to decipher for a developer.
Most of the time you’re talking about source code that is decades old. Staff turnover, companies that go in and and of business, get taken over by a parent company, sold off to another, another group buys the rights to the business, companies that focus more on delivery than good backup practices, media degrades etc. It’s very easy for 30+ year old code to get lost in that mess when possibly no one who works at the company now was even born when the old game released, even if the company itself stuck around as a single continuous entity.
Latest Answers