Claude Code can no longer recreate specific games

Anthropic has added a new rule to Claude Code, the company's AI tool for writing code. The rule applies to the Opus 5.5 model and is meant to make the tool refrain from recreating a specific existing game.

According to both sources, the rule was discovered around Oct. 27. Game Developer writes that it was spotted by the X user "Chasm." Users cannot turn it off.

What the rule says

The wording of the rule, as rendered in English from the Danish: Build original games, games in a genre and games based on the user's own designs and materials. Do not build a recreation of a specific existing game, even if it is renamed or called original.

According to Kotaku and user reports, the tool refuses, for example, to recreate a racing game "like Need For Speed." It still allows general development of racing games.

Anthropic: It's about rights

Anthropic employee Addy Osmani explains that two sentences have been added to Claude Code's instructions on Opus 5.5. They are meant to steer the tool away from recreating someone else's specific game, because using Claude to infringe intellectual property rights goes against Anthropic's usage policies.

Osmani says original games and genre games should continue to work as before. He promises ongoing adjustments and urges users who run into problems to contact him. Anthropic has confirmed the update to Game Developer. A spokesperson pointed to Addy Osmani's statement on X, and no separate press release has been issued.

Fear of clones in the games industry

Game Developer writes that several indie studios have expressed concern about clones made with AI. Digital Sun Games canceled its upcoming public playtest of ReVamp over fear of cloning, and several studios canceled public playtests for the same reason. Developers have also signed a call urging Valve to protect against unauthorized AI copies on Steam.

Kotaku describes the move as a response to criticism that users are making unauthorized recreations of games through "vibe coding," where AI writes the code based on loose instructions. Kotaku also links it to earlier complaints that Claude works poorly with reverse engineering tools, that is, taking a finished program apart to understand it.

Can the rule be bypassed?

According to Game Developer, security researchers point out that AI safeguards can be bypassed with rhetorical tricks. Open models without similar restrictions are also still available to copycats. How effective the rule will be is therefore unclear.

An anonymous user quoted by Kotaku points out the irony that the "theft machine itself" refuses to read scanlations, that is, unofficial translations.