Anthropic tells Claude Code to stop cloning video games

The rule reads: "Do not build a recreation of a specific existing game, even if it is renamed or called original." An X user named Chasm spotted it inside Claude Code on October 27, listed under "tengu_heron_brook," and Tom's Hardware compiled the reports a few days later.

Anthropic confirmed the change. The company added two sentences to Claude Code's prompt on Opus 5.5 to steer it away from recreating someone else's specific game, because using Claude to infringe IP is against its usage policy. Original games, genre games, and games built from a user's own designs and assets are meant to keep working. Chasm says there's no way to switch the rule off.

The complaints came fast. Developers on Reddit and X reported Claude refusing work that had nothing to do with building a game: analyzing a simple Windows crash dump, clearing up junkware on a Samsung TV, or just using the Reverse Engineer Anything tool. Game developers said their own anti-cheat development and security reviews got blocked under the same safeguard. One Tom's Hardware reader pushed back, arguing the change only stops "lazy cloning" and that modding and decompilation work is still allowed.

Indie studio Alliance Arts cancelled its Drunken Goddess Reflux demo, warning about potential AI replication of gameplay and presentation. Two of the people we track in our Who's Who had shared the story the same day it broke.