Anthropic Blocks Claude Code From Recreating Existing Games
Anthropic staffer Addy Osmani said two sentences were added to Claude Code's prompt on Opus 5.5 to steer it away from copying specific games.
Anthropic confirmed it has added a rule to Claude Code on Opus 5.5 that restricts the tool from building recreations of specific existing video games, even when those recreations are renamed or presented as original work, according to gamedeveloper.com.
The restriction appears under the identifier "tengu_heron_brook" and cannot be disabled, according to X user Chasm, who spotted the change. Anthropic member of technical staff Addy Osmani said two sentences were added to Claude Code's prompt on Opus 5.5 to steer the tool away from recreating someone else's specific game.
Osmani said using Claude to infringe intellectual property violates Anthropic's usage policy, while original games, games in an established genre and games built from a user's own designs and assets should keep working.
The change follows months in which users have built AI-driven remakes of classic and upcoming games, sometimes for entertainment and sometimes for financial gain. Chasm reported that the rules update was pushed sometime on October 27, 2026.
Concern about fast-follow AI remakes beating the games they copy to market has spread among independent developers in the last few weeks. Digital Sun Games is one of several studios that cancelled a public playtest for its upcoming game ReVamp over fears the demo could be ingested by AI tools. Developers also asked Valve how it can stop AI-made clones from supplanting their games on Steam, and Valve offered an explanation to developers in South Korea earlier this week.
Quick answers
What does the Claude Code rule on Opus 5.5 do?
It restricts the tool from building recreations of specific existing video games, even if they are renamed or described as original. Anthropic's Addy Osmani said two sentences were added to the prompt to steer the tool away from recreating someone else's game.
Can the Claude Code game-recreation rule be turned off?
According to X user Chasm, who spotted the rule under the identifier "tengu_heron_brook", it cannot be disabled.
Which games can still be made with Claude?
Osmani said original games, games in an established genre and games built from a user's own designs and assets should keep working; using Claude to infringe intellectual property violates Anthropic's usage policy.