AINov 13, 2026, 8:41 AM UTC·1 min read

Claude now refuses to clone existing games, and it's catching legit projects

Anthropic has told Claude not to rebuild existing games, even under a new name. Developers say it also refuses harmless reverse engineering and patching work.

A developer at a desk looking at a game on screen while an AI assistant window shows a refusal message. — Image: t3n Magazin

Ask Claude to rebuild a famous game with a different name and it will now say no. Anthropic added the rule to the system prompt, the hidden instructions that steer the model, and some developers say it is blocking work that has nothing to do with cloning.

The passage appears in the system prompts of Claude Code and Claude Opus 5.5. It forbids recreating "specific existing games", and that applies even if the developer picks a different name for the result. Help with game development stays allowed when users bring their own designs and materials. Anthropic has confirmed the change and pointed to possible intellectual property violations.

Anthropic employee Addy Osmani said on X that such clones break the usage policies. The company is also likely trying to protect itself against copyright lawsuits. Games are a sensitive area: AI-generated copies are making the industry nervous, and ideas or demos shared before a release can be misused with AI help, including attempts at blackmail.

Why is Claude refusing legitimate game projects?

The new rule seems to be too broad. According to reports on GitHub, Claude also refuses to analyse games through reverse engineering, to recreate game mechanics, or to patch game code. The popular tool Reverse Engineer Anything appears to be among the targets.

The problem is not limited to games. Reports on Reddit and other platforms describe developers who wanted to analyse a Windows crash or remove junkware from a smart TV and got turned down. Not every complaint can be verified as legitimate, but some come from well-known, credible developers.

Will Anthropic loosen the rule?

Anthropic says it wants to adjust the rule to "find a balance". Osmani wrote on X: "If Claude refuses something that belongs to you in the meantime, send it to me."

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Tags:anthropicclaudeclaude codegame developmentreverse engineeringcopyright