Facepalm: Square Enix is one of several publishers that could offer a subscription to access its older catalog of games through a service like Stadia (or perhaps on its own). But first, they'll have to track down some missing code.
Google's Stadia has ignited a firestorm of discussion involving the possibility of publishers making their back catalogs available through a subscription / streaming service. One name associated with the idea is Square Enix but as Game Informer found out this week at E3, there's a major hurdle preventing the company from doing so.
President and CEO Yosuke Matsuda told the publication that he is embarrassed to admit it but "in some cases, we don't know where the code is anymore." That's right, Square Enix apparently lost some of its earlier games.
"It's very hard to find them sometimes, because back in the day you just made them and put them out there and you were done - you didn't think of how you were going to sell them down the road."
Matsuda didn't say which specific titles had gone missing but did share that in one case, a developer that left the company took code with him on his PC. Fortunately, the code in that case was able to be retrieved without incident.
It's not uncommon for source code to get away from a publisher. A few years back, the source code for NBA Jam Extreme and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter was found on old hardware from Acclaim's 2004 bankruptcy sale.
Lead image credit: Square Enix logo by Casimiro PT