Different programs requiring different versions of C++ runtime

[rga]

Why is it that games and applications all install their own version of the C++ runtime libraries? I think MSI Afterburner installs something like 2008, Fallout 3 installs 2012, and I'm pretty sure I had 2013 installed for some reason as well. Why can't I just have one set of runtime libraries installed - the latest - to support things that require previous versions?

 

[Elixer]

Different libs for different versions of the runtime.
It isn't possible to have an 'all in one' lib for all versions of the compiler, things do change between the runtimes, so they look for specific versions of it.