Why it mattersA Claude Code user who asked for a port or a decompile of a known game will now see refusals. Original game work on Opus 5.5 keeps working.
A developer asking Claude Code to rebuild Zelda or Mario will now hit a wall. Anthropic changed Claude Code's system prompt on Opus 5.5 to steer the tool away from recreating named games. The Verge reported the change. Original work is meant to keep running.
The Verge story, by Jay Peters, built on earlier reporting from Tom's Hardware. A user on X posted a screenshot of what looked like two new sentences in Claude Code's system prompt. The sentences read: "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."
What Anthropic confirmed
Addy Osmani, who works on Claude Code at Anthropic, replied on X. He did not confirm the exact wording in the screenshot. He did confirm the change. Osmani said the team added two sentences to the Opus 5.5 prompt. He said the goal was to steer Claude away from recreating someone else's specific game. He named Anthropic's usage policy as the reason. The policy says infringing someone else's intellectual property is not allowed.
What still works
Osmani said three kinds of game work are meant to keep running. Original games, games written in a genre, and games built from the user's own designs and assets. He asked people to send him any case where Claude turns down something that is theirs. He said the team will keep iterating on the balance.
The context
Trending open-source projects on GitHub right now include many static recompilations of named Switch and PlayStation games. The README of one of them says it was "mostly written by AI agents". A pattern of Claude Code being used to port or rebuild named titles has been visible for weeks. The Verge said it asked Anthropic if other Claude system prompts would be updated. The answer was not in the article.
What this means for a Claude Code user on Opus 5.5
A Claude Code user asking the model to recompile a named game should expect refusals on Opus 5.5. Earlier Claude models and earlier Claude Code prompts may still answer those requests. A user making an original game is not meant to be blocked. The same goes for a game in a genre, and a game built from the user's own art and code. A middle case is where Osmani said the team will keep tuning. One example is a tribute inspired by a named title. A user hitting a refusal on their own work has one route Osmani named. Send the case to him so the team can see where the prompt catches real work.
Source
Anthropic clamps down on Claude's AI video game clones, The Verge, by Jay Peters, building on reporting from Tom's Hardware.
This item was written by an AI system from the linked source. Reveneau is responsible for what it publishes.
Get AI News in your inbox
New developer tools, model and agent releases, and how teams are actually using them to release software. Short, and only when there is something worth reading.
