Claude Now Refuses to Clone Existing Video Games, Anthropic Says

Anthropic has changed how Claude handles video game requests: the AI will no longer rebuild a specific game that already exists, even if you rename it or call it original. The company confirmed the change after a user on X spotted new wording in the instructions behind Claude Code, Anthropic’s coding tool. Original games and games in a familiar genre are still meant to work.

What Changed

Anthropic’s Addy Osmani said the company added two sentences to Claude Code’s prompt on Opus 5.5. A prompt here means the hidden instructions that tell an AI model how to behave. According to Osmani, the goal is to steer Claude away from recreating someone else’s specific game, because using Claude to infringe intellectual property is against Anthropic’s usage policy.

A screenshot shared on X reportedly showed the wording as “Do build original games, games in a genre, and games from the user’s own designs and assets,” followed by an instruction not to build a recreation of a specific existing game. Osmani did not confirm that exact language, though he confirmed the update itself.

What Still Works

Osmani said original games, genre games and games built from your own designs and assets should keep working. He also said Anthropic will keep adjusting the rules to strike the right balance, and he invited users who believe Claude wrongly turned down something that is theirs to send him the case.

CNET tested the limits by asking for a game that resembled Breakout with the word “Claude” on each brick. Claude produced a playable web version of the arcade classic, but not one a fan would mistake for the original. So games that borrow an idea can still be made.

Why Anthropic Is Doing This

The timing fits a wave of AI-assisted game projects. Engadget notes a surge of big commercial games being decompiled, meaning taken apart to recover how they work, with AI help and made playable in browsers. It lists Halo: Combat Evolved, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Grand Theft Auto V among the fan projects. The Verge says retro gaming is being overrun with AI-made decompilations, recompilations and ports.

Anthropic also has a history with copyright disputes. Engadget reports that last year the company agreed to a record $1.5 billion settlement in a class action brought by 500,000 authors, and that the estate of Elvis Presley has since filed a suit against it.

What It Means for Hobbyist Game Makers

Copyright law protects a game’s original creative expression, not its ideas, rules or mechanics, according to intellectual property lawyer David Kocan. In his words, copyright protects “the game you created, not the genre you helped popularize.” That is why you see many similar battle royale games or side-scrolling platformers. He also warned that the line between borrowing an idea and copying expression can be blurry.

Legal experts told CNET that no law requires AI companies to block game clones. Eric Blatt, a lawyer and former US Patent and Trademark Office examiner, called the move prudent. If Claude copies a game on Anthropic’s servers, he said, there is an argument that Anthropic did the copying.

Ruhan, CEO of animation and game art studio Null Station, offered a simple test: remove the title and logo and ask whether a player could still tell the two games apart. If not, you have crossed the line. He added that saying the AI made it will not protect anyone.

• Design your own mechanics, art and levels rather than copying a named title.
• Expect refusals if you ask for an exact recreation of a specific game.
• If Claude declines something that is truly yours, you can contact Osmani as he offered.

What Is Still Unknown

The Verge asked Anthropic whether other Claude system prompts have been or will be updated too, and has not reported an answer. Anthropic did not immediately respond to CNET’s request for comment. Osmani says the company will keep refining the balance, so where exactly Claude draws the line may shift.

Sources: CNET, The Verge, Engadget