Claude now refuses to copy existing games, but modding still works

Claude, the AI assistant from Anthropic, now refuses to build copies of existing games, even if the copy is renamed or called original. A PCMag writer spent a weekend testing the limits. His finding: the rule is narrow, and help with modding and porting games still works.

What changed

According to Addy Osmani, a member of technical staff at Anthropic, two sentences were added to the rules for the Opus 5.5 model. They say to build original games, games in a genre, and games from the user's own designs and assets. They also say not to build a recreation of a specific existing game, even if it is renamed or called original.

Osmani said the goal is to steer Claude away from recreating someone else's game, because using Claude to infringe intellectual property is against Anthropic's usage policy.

What still works

The tester says Claude still helps take games apart. That process is called decompiling: opening up a finished program to see how it was built. He decompiled the latest update of Valheim and several mods to learn how they work. He used that to make new mods and to keep building a tool that tracks achievements.

Claude also said it has no problem decompiling a game to port it to PC. It was willing to break down a demo of an unreleased game for modding or porting.

What is blocked

Asking for a copy gets a refusal. The tester says Claude declined even when he said he would not reuse any of the game's art or code, citing copyright and service agreement problems. Software gets the same treatment. Claude will help change an app, but it is less willing to help copy one.

That is a shift. Brandon Thomas of ArtCraft used Claude while building PhotoCraft, his AI clone of Adobe Photoshop.

Harmless projects caught too

Some refusals look broader than the rule. The article says many people report Claude turning down tasks it used to do. One user wanted a digital version of a board game for personal use, and Claude refused. The tester expects Anthropic may loosen things over time, but that is his guess, not a promise.

What to do

• Frame projects as original games, genre games, or builds from your own designs and assets.
• Expect modding, decompiling and porting requests to go through more easily than copy requests.
• If a harmless project is refused, try breaking it into smaller, clearly scoped tasks, as the tester suggests.

The tester says narrow prompts that share less about the bigger goal might get past the block. Anthropic's stated aim is to stop copies of specific games, so projects built on that aim may still be refused.