An update to Anthropic’s Claude AI software has seemingly blocked the creation of outright clones or copies of existing games. Instead, Claude has been altered to only create “original” games.
Among the first to share news of the change was X user Chasm, who posted a screenshot showing the new rule, purportedly added around 27th October. “Do build original games, games in a genre, and games from the user’s own designs and assets,” it reads. “Don’t build a recreation of a specific existing game, even if it is renamed or called original.”.
While Anthropic is yet to issue an official statement on the new rule, technical staff member Addy Osmani commented beneath Chasm’s post, confirming the change’s legitimacy. He noted it was included because “using Claude to infringe IP is against our usage policy”, but added that creating original games and those built with a user’s own assets should still be possible.
Following the new rule’s inclusion, users on GitHub shared newfound barriers they’d run into as a result. Reports included being blocked from creating digital modules for board games, and from recreating a commercially produced board game for personal use. Eurogamer has contacted Anthropic for comment on the rule change and its stance on AI game copies.
The modifications to Claude have appeared at a time when AI copies of games have drawn increasing ire, with game communities pushing back against them and developers pulling public-facing demos in fear of having their work stolen. AI-assisted copies of triple-A games have also emerged, including a version of Mario Kart 8 playable in an internet browser. However, this was taken down in a matter of days, presumably thanks to a legal notice from Nintendo.
Of course, even if Claude is prevented from making game copies, other AI tools, such as Deepseek, still lack similar restrictions. Until such measures are ubiquitous, the issue will continue. Given Claude’s position as one of the most popular commercial AI tools out there, however, this will certainly make a dent in the problem.