Yeah I brought that up already.
https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/if-the-definitive-editions-cannot-be-fixed-the-source-code-should-be-released
Maybe the game will not be patched anymore after 2022.
If it then has dedicated servers, I guess there will be community made patches (fixes) again.
ms vc has good tools to work with, also some parts like the GUI are open already.