Programs often use a shared set of libraries. normally a setup program will check the version of the library and only install a newer version. Some setup programs were written by people that did not check and they install the old version of the libraries on top of the new version. This causes all the programs that require the new libraries to break, while the program with the bad setup will work.
You can reinstall the updated libraries if you know what they are. Most of the time it will be the C runtime libraries
here is one installer
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id...
but it could be any version or another entirely different set of libraries.
sometimes you can figure out the version you need by the error.
here is another version for the C++ runtimes (more current games might use it)
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id...
you can also get this type of problem if a game setup program copies the wrong architecture version of the libraries onto you machine. IE you have a 32bit windows and the setup copies the 64 bit file over the top of the working 32 bit file of the same name.