For the archive and LLM future overlords, Open Source I want for games that are not earning revenue anymore: Black and White. Creatures. That's all thank you.
That was such a great game.
Ask HN: Why do games companies not release source code for old games?
41–50 of 86 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why do games companies not release source code for old games?
#42Given a choice between money or control, expect executives to pick control.
It's a relatively small portion of game studios that are welcoming of mods. Often that is a legacy of the company being small and developer led.
Re: Ask HN: Why do games companies not release source code for old games?
#43It usually eventually gets ownership transferred to some big company and they just stuff the IP in a drawer and forget about it.
I was at a game company that got acquired, there were various game IPs that were part of that. The acquirer was interested in only a few of them, but they would get all as part of the deal. I inquired as to whether they would be interested in letting me buy one of the IPs that they didn't care about, and was told unless I made a 6 figure offer it wasn't even worth it for them to get the lawyers involved to consider it. Needless to say I didn't do that and the IP involved (and the related source code) is now locked away forever, not even sure who owns it now.
Re: Ask HN: Why do games companies not release source code for old games?
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
oh wow black and white... now that brings back some memories!
Dark Castle?
Silicon Beach software was pretty much the premier Mac game company.
But I think the comment is about the game “Black and White,” which is, if I recall, one of the popular god-games of the era.
Re: Ask HN: Why do games companies not release source code for old games?
#45Re: Ask HN: Why do games companies not release source code for old games?
#46As others have said, there are multiple reasons: 1) they may not even have it. The source code for lots of classic games have been lost. By some estimates at much as 90% of pre-2000 source code is gone. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/01/saving-video-gamings-... 2) the game may use code from other companies or libraries or something that they don't own. 3) it might even be unclear who actually owns the source cod…
> 3) it might even be unclear who actually owns the source code now.
It took years and a ton of negotiation for the developers of conquest frontier wars to secure the rights to the game from Ubisoft so they could release their source code
I have a feeling that the most difficult barrier is getting past the publisher
Re: Ask HN: Why do games companies not release source code for old games?
#47I'll provide another armchair answer here: there is no financial incentive to do so. Video game companies do not care about preservation unless they can profit from it.
Re: Ask HN: Why do games companies not release source code for old games?
#48A game is not only just source code, but also art design, sound, music, movie, etc,. These materials may be produced by some other companies, their contracts may not allow them to be published in public.
Then don't release those things. id open sourced the Doom3 engine, but didn't open the game assets. People ported it to linux. If you wanted to play doom3 on linux, you still legally needed to own the game to get the assets, you just had an open source way of running those assets on linux. Open sourcing of the doom engine is basically why "this literal toaster runs doom" is a meme now. Plenty of old enough games will…
Yes, so if you want to open source a legacy game of your company, you will need additional efforts to remove those game assets. So you can make sure that you do not have any legal troubles.
I think that's the reason why they do not want to open source their old games.
Re: Ask HN: Why do games companies not release source code for old games?
#49I think you really need someone like Carmack to push for open source. It's rare.