When a game’s “code is lost” what stops a company from dumping/decompiling code from a disk or cartridge copy of the game for things like remakes and remasters?

Question

When a game’s “code is lost” what stops a company from dumping/decompiling code from a disk or cartridge copy of the game for things like remakes and remasters?

In: Technology

Answer 1

Part of it these days is literally the scale of the code you’re dealing with even if you have a decompiler that can output readable code.

Code that’s being worked on tends to be heavily commented, and most compilers will strip these comments out to save space in the release build meaning that whilst you have readable code you don’t have access to the details of minutiae or workarounds that make the code work.

Add in to this that identifiers can be references to old systems that were renamed or cut or even in jokes for the original team you can see why the lack of the comments can be a major hindrance.