Anthropic has told Claude Code to stop rebuilding other people's video games, and the instruction is only two sentences long. Making games is still fine. Making that game, the one you have in mind and may even have named, is no longer on the menu.
What actually changed
Anthropic updated the system prompt for Claude Code, its coding tool, so the model steers away from recreating existing titles. The company's stated reason is simple: using Claude to infringe intellectual property is already against its usage policy, and the prompt now says so to the model directly.
Addy Osmani of Anthropic confirmed the change in a reply to a user on X. He said the two sentences were added to Claude Code's prompt on Opus 5.5.
The wording, and what is unconfirmed
The text that sparked the discussion came from a screenshot a user posted on X in the week before the story broke. The screenshot allegedly shows these lines:
"Do build original games, games in a genre, and games from the user's own designs and assets. Don't build a recreation of a specific existing game, even if it is named or called original."
Osmani did not confirm that exact language. He confirmed only that two sentences were added and described what they are meant to do. So the quote above is best treated as probably close, not as verified.
The final clause is a little cryptic. Read charitably, it targets the old trick of renaming a clone and calling it your own idea, though the screenshot does not explain itself.
What stays allowed
Anthropic's own description of the intent is fairly clear about where the line sits.
- Original games. Built from scratch, no existing title behind them.
- Genre games. Work in the style of a category is fine. Work that reproduces one particular game is not.
- Your own designs and assets. If the material is yours, Claude is meant to keep working with it.
Osmani said these cases are "meant to keep working." The phrasing is a promise of intent, not a guarantee of behavior.
The retro gaming backdrop
The report ties the change to what is happening in retro gaming, which it describes as being overrun with AI-made decompilations, recompilations and ports. It does not say that Claude produced those projects. It simply notes that Anthropic wants no part in direct clones while still welcoming game development generally.
The distinction matters because a ported or recompiled game is, by design, the same game. That is a harder case to defend as "a game in a genre."
A blunt instrument, politely applied
A prompt-level instruction is a nudge. Osmani's own word was "steer," and he added that the company will keep iterating "to ensure we're striking the right balance." That is a candid admission that the first version of the line may land in the wrong place now and then.
He also invited users whose legitimate work gets refused to send it to him directly. In effect, Anthropic is asking for false-positive reports from the people most likely to hit them.
What we still do not know
- Other prompts. The original report asked Anthropic whether it has changed or will change other Claude system prompts. No answer is included.
- The exact text. Only the screenshot supports the specific wording, and Anthropic has not confirmed it.
- Where the edge cases fall. Nothing published explains how Claude will tell a loving homage in a genre from a recreation of one specific game.
Asking users to forward the wrongful refusals is a polite way of saying the boundary between "a game in a genre" and "that specific game" will be mapped by trial and error, one annoyed developer at a time.