Claude Set to Stop Copies of Existing Games, Limited to Original Work

Anthropic's AI assistant, Claude, has reportedly been changed so it no longer makes copies of existing video games. Eurogamer reported the change on 2 November 2026.

The new rule reportedly appeared around 27 October. Under it, Claude is directed to build original games, games within a genre, and games made from a user's own designs and assets. It is also directed not to recreate a specific existing game, even if that game is renamed or called original.

X user Chasm was among the first to share the change, posting a screenshot of the rule. Addy Osmani, a technical staff member at Anthropic, replied beneath the post and confirmed the change was legitimate. He said the rule was included because using Claude to infringe intellectual property, meaning someone else's protected creative work, goes against Anthropic's usage policy. He also said original games and games built from a user's own assets should still be possible.

IGN reported on 31 October that the block applies to Claude Opus, one of Anthropic's AI models. The same day, Mashable reported that Claude has also started restricting modding, which means changing an existing game with player-made additions, along with decompiling and reverse-engineering. Both involve working backwards from finished software to see how it was built.

The wider problem of AI-made copies is not new to storefronts. IGN reported that AI-generated game clones have appeared on platforms including Steam, the PC games store run by Valve.

The rule has also caught some unrelated work. Following its inclusion, GitHub users reported being blocked from creating digital modules for board games. GitHub is a website where software developers share and store code. Other users said they were blocked from recreating a commercially produced board game for personal use.

Anthropic had not made an official statement on the rule when Eurogamer published its report. Eurogamer said it had contacted the company for comment on the change and on its position on AI-made game copies.