AIEntertainmentGamingAnthropic clamps down on Claude’s AI video game clonesAnthropic is steering Claude away from re-creating specific titles, but users can still use it to make their own games.Anthropic is steering Claude away from re-creating specific titles, but users can still use it to make their own games.by Jay PetersNov 2, 2026, 6:56 PM UTCShareGiftImage: Cath Virginia / The VergePart OfReverse-engineered games: All the news on video game decomps, recomps, VR and web and 3D portssee all updates Jay Peters is a senior reporter covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme.Anthropic has updated Claude Code’s system prompt to prevent the AI tool from being used to re-create existing video games, as reported by Tom’s Hardware. Retro gaming is currently being overrun with AI-made decompilations, recompilations, and ports, but while Anthropic will still let people use Claude Code to make games, it doesn’t want people to use it for direct clones.Last week, a user on X posted a screenshot allegedly showing two new sentences added to Claude Code’s system prompt: “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.”Anthropic’s Addy Osmani, in a reply, didn’t confirm that specific language but did say that the company had updated the prompt in Claude Code on Opus 5.5:We added two sentences to Claude Code’s prompt on Opus 5.5 to steer it away from recreating someone else’s specific game because using Claude to infringe IP is against our usage policy.Original games, genre games, and games built from your own designs and assets are meant to keep working.We’ll continue to iterate to ensure we’re striking the right balance.
In the meantime, if Claude turns down something that’s yours, send it my way.We’ve asked Anthropic if it has or will be updating other Claude system prompts as well.Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Jay PetersAIAnthropicEntertainmentGamingNewsMario 64, but you can *pull him out of the screen* and play with him in your real world.Sean HollisterOct 27Retro gaming is being overrun with AIAndrew WebsterOct 23Someone hacked the Switch 2 by using an old game and AIJay PetersOct 22Most PopularXbox’s former COO has ‘serious concerns’ about her abrupt departureNew Zelda and GTA represent a games industry that no longer existsHomePod Mini 2 first look: Three things I love and one disappointmentFlock keeps ignoring requests to cancel its contractsThe 16GB Raspberry Pi 5 got another ‘unavoidable’ RAM price hikeAdvertiser Content FromThis is the title for the native ad
