I appreciate them acknowledging this fact. It bothers me how many people think that leaking the source code of a game engine is an actual problem for the company.
Just because the code is available doesn't give you a license to use it. And the ones that don't care about having a license would not have used / payed for it in the first place.
Regarding knowhow behind modern engines, Unreal and CRYENGINE's source code is available on GitHub. Engineers often publish research papers about their methods and reverse engineering isn't as infeasible as one might think initially.
Also, speaking about Frostbite and what we've read about in the past (see Anthem), I highly doubt a developer can be productive using it while lacking official support.
If it makes the creation of exploits (cheats) easier, then I think it could a big headache for a game company. I’d at least find it a lot easier to try to exploit a game a have the full source code for, than one I have to reverse engineer.
Cheating was so rampant in earlier titles that if it had been just slightly worse I’d probably have stopped playing.
Obscurity is weak security though of course.
It shouldn't be unless they're doing something unethical in loot boxes
Speak for yourself. I don't play at all these days, but when I did, I was almost always running a "pirated" version from my favorite torrent tracker, and only after purchasing a license which was almost never used (because of DRM, not being able to run it under Wine, or other reasons).
All my usual musings aside including distate for all things EA, I would absolutely want to see mass effect code.
This excerpt is another example of why we need better computer literacy, starting with journalists.
> "For example, the Frostbite engine, which hackers claim to have the source code for, is a powerful game creation tool used in dozens of games, from FIFA to the Battlefield series and several recent Star Wars games from EA."
I use the term "blueprint" as in the plans of a architect for a house. While the running software, is the finished, build house.
Access to source code makes RE easier but you can do without ( e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26130320 )
If take the Coca-Cola recipe from whatever safe it is stored in, I don't think anyone will have a problem saying that I stole the recipe, even if Coca-Cola still knows how to make it.
Possibly...or it'll be used to make bots and hacks and such.
> "We are investigating a recent incident of intrusion into our network where a limited amount of game source code and related tools were stolen," an EA spokesperson said in a statement.
Valve hasn't fixed TF2 since source leaked over a year ago, game is still unplayable on most servers due to bots
Seriously who is still lining up to buy these lootbox infested gambling simulators in 2021?
