Anthropic's Claude Reportedly Blocks AI Game Cloning and Reverse-Engineering

Anthropic's Claude AI appears to have begun refusing requests to recreate or clone existing video games, according to user reports gathered by Tom's Hardware and TechPowerUp.

Multiple users say that Claude Code and Anthropic's Opus 5.5 model are turning down game recreation tasks. The behavior has been linked to a textual rule now said to be in force. According to a user identified as Chasm on X (formerly Twitter), the rule instructs the model to build original games, games in a genre, and games based on a user's own designs and assets, but not to build a recreation of a specific existing game, even if it is renamed or called original. Both outlets note there is no official confirmation that this is the exact rule text.

Tom's Hardware reports that the restriction may be a response to a surge of AI-cloned and cracked titles. It also notes that some developers have recently faced extortion attempts in which attackers threatened to turn game demos into full cloned releases before the original could ship.