In the ‘80s and ‘90s, video game cheat codes were a hot schoolyard commodity. They were the baseball cards of an increasingly digital generation. The sounds of players trading digital secrets ...

However, some game saves cannot be hacked easily, because the developers will sometimes put encryption in place to prevent gamers from modifying online stats and other global statistics.

The EA hack is the latest in a string of high-profile video game source code leaks. Last year, Valve, Capcom, Nintendo, and Ubisoft reportedly suffered similar data breaches.

The theft of the game maker's legacy anti-cheat’s source code could help hackers develop better and less detectable cheats.