Anthropic has added a new restriction to Claude Code aimed at preventing the tool from recreating other developers’ games. The rule, listed under “tengu_heron_brook,” tells the AI to build original games, games within a genre, and projects based on a user’s own designs and assets. It also says not to recreate a specific existing game, even if the result is renamed or described as original. Users cannot disable the setting.
The rule was spotted by Chasm on X via Game Developer. Anthropic’s Addy Osmani said that two sentences had been added to Claude Code’s prompt on Opus 5.5 to discourage recreating a specific game. He explained that using Claude to infringe intellectual property conflicts with Anthropic’s policy.
According to Osmani, original games, genre-based projects, and games made with users’ own designs and assets are intended to remain supported. He added that Anthropic will continue adjusting the system to find an appropriate balance.
The change comes as developers face a growing number of AI-generated clones and low-effort copycat games. During Steam Next Fest, the demo showcase was reportedly flooded with such releases, prompting some developers to cancel demos over concerns that their code could be copied and used to release a competing game before the original shipped.
Valve has said it is aware of the issue and that many people are considering possible solutions. It has also encouraged developers to build communities around their games, although that process takes time while AI-generated copies can be produced quickly and may exploit viral trends.
The creator of Needle in a Haystack Simulator, NasNakarus, highlighted the problem by teasing a joke mode in which players would search through piles of cloned games to find the original. Anthropic’s update may make copying more difficult through Claude, but developers could still face attempts to bypass the restriction or use other AI agents without the same safeguards.
Sources: GameSpot.