Why games started installing Visual c++ 2005 redistributable?

[PeteRoy]

New games on Steam like Battlefield Bad Company 2 and Modern Warfare 2 are installing Microsoft Visual c++ 2005 Redistributable

Why is this? What is it for? Can the game work without it?

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

It's because they are lazy coders that didn't make plans for their executable to be standalone (I think).

 

[JimmiG]

I remember the good old days when games were written in 6502 assembler and used <64KB of RAM... Nowadays programmers are just lazy 😉

 

[EagleKeeper]

The code is written to be run in a Windows environment.

There are interface DLLs to the OS.
Given the problems that MS has with DLL version and updates, it is safer to include what is needed with the game itself.
That way everything needed exists. Otherwise a DLL may have been updated that breaks the rules and therefore the game.

 

[duragezic]

It's better to include it so there's less people asking support why something doesn't work.

I remember the days of having to keep msvcrt.dll somewhere to use when needed (after a format or whatever).

 

[Nothinman]

It's better to include it so there's less people asking support why something doesn't work.

Actually, it would be better if MS would maintain better compatibility so that devs don't have to worry about it.