Anthropic tells its Claude coding AI to stop copying other people's video games
A two-sentence rule added to Claude Code aims to block copyright problems, but some developers say it also blocks legitimate work.
San Francisco AI company Anthropic has told its Claude Code programming assistant not to rebuild copies of existing video games, an Anthropic engineer confirmed, according to reports by Ars Technica and Tom's Hardware. The change has drawn complaints from some developers who say it blocks work on their own projects.
What changed
Claude Code is an AI tool that writes and edits software for programmers from plain-English requests. It runs Anthropic's AI models, including its newest, Opus 5.5.
Around Oct. 27, users spotted a new rule in the hidden instructions, called a system prompt, that Claude Code gives the AI before every request. The rule tells it to build original games and games in a genre, but not "a recreation of a specific existing game, even if it is renamed or called original," Ars Technica reported.
Addy Osmani, an Anthropic engineer, confirmed the change on X on Oct. 30.
Using Claude to infringe IP is against our usage policy.
Osmani said original games and games built from a user's own designs "are meant to keep working," and asked developers to tell him about wrong refusals.
Why Anthropic did it
AI coding tools have made it fast and cheap to copy games. Ars Technica reported a flood of AI-made knockoffs of game demos and AI-assisted ports of older games. The rule could help protect Anthropic from copyright claims, the outlet noted.
The complaints
Some developers say Claude now refuses legitimate projects. Tom's Hardware reported that users also saw Opus 5.5 refuse some reverse-engineering tasks, meaning taking apart software to see how it works, and that switching to an older model avoided the block.
The rule may not stop much copying. Users can switch to other AI models, including free open-weight models that anyone can download and run without such limits, Ars Technica noted.
Source: Ars Technica and Tom's Hardware reports, Nov. 2, 2026, and Addy Osmani's post on X, Oct. 30, 2026.