John Carmack had a lot of pushback trying to publish the sources to older id software titles, but he won. The end result is over a quarter century's worth of incalculable creativity from hackers, hobby modders, new and fresh indie devs, and even scientists. There are still thriving communities of enthusiastic modders churning out content for these old games today.
It absolutely baffles me that a game developer or publisher would pass up on that kind of brand loyalty. I have an inkling as to why they would pass up on the opportunity to gift their fanbase with a torch of their own to carry for these games long into the Night of Time, but I still can't understand it.
