id software managed to pull it off. They used to open source their games a few years after they were released.
I do get it though, bigger companies tend to optimize very strongly towards reducing liability and maximizing quantifiable profits. Having even 1 employee spend a couple of days or a week combing through things as a quick pass could be time working on something else if you're making resource allocation decisions based on a spreadsheet. Personally I'd make a case that id's openness in everything (how their games can be modded and it being open sourced) had a really big impact on their success both for gaining diehard fans and profits.
>>id software managed to pull it off. They used to open source their games a few years after they were released.
Well yes, because it was John Carmack's personal belief that this is the right thing to do and he kept pushing for it every time. According to "Masters of Doom" it's something his legal team was always massively against, but being the company owner he could do it anyway. I don't think such strong belief in open source exists at the top of our company, so any such request has to be started from the bottom then be approved by 20 different layers of organisation - which makes it very difficult to actually happen.
>> Personally I'd make a case that id's openness in everything (how their games can be modded and it being open sourced) had a really big impact on their success both for gaining diehard fans and profits.
I agree, and such arguments have been made internally.
I do get it though, bigger companies tend to optimize very strongly towards reducing liability and maximizing quantifiable profits. Having even 1 employee spend a couple of days or a week combing through things as a quick pass could be time working on something else if you're making resource allocation decisions based on a spreadsheet. Personally I'd make a case that id's openness in everything (how their games can be modded and it being open sourced) had a really big impact on their success both for gaining diehard fans and profits.