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Because copyright. The decompiled code is a derivative work of the binary, and thus subject to its original copyright. You can make fair use arguments in some

• R0b0t1 5y ago
  That's still a handwavy answer. I worked with game RE for a long time and the only way that publishers were able to go after people was if they used game assets. The decompiled code was, as far as I was ever aware, free game. There was almost always manual intervention to get it to build.
  • detaro 5y ago
    The game asset thing applies to reimplemented games like OpenTTD, which are independently implemented and then ask to be combined with legally sourced assets. That's very different than a decompiled game.
  • marcan_42 5y ago
    That's really not a safe assumption to make. The publishers may not have wanted to go after people but I wouldn't be betting on winning a court case against them over this. If decompiled code were fair use, you could take any application, decompile it, and re-publish it for free. It doesn't make any sense. Decompilation is a mechanical transformation, and the manual edits that come after to make it work do not significantly alter the nature of the work. It is clearly a derivative work of the original, so you're left with fair use arguments, and there certainly isn't any universal "well it's a game and it's just the code, not the assets" fair use argument.
  • kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
    It wasn't "free game". It just isn't worth the effort to prove code was copied.