Anthropic Tightens Claude Code Restrictions: Prohibits Replicating Existing Games
Anthropic has updated the system prompt for Claude Code, prohibiting the tool from being used to replicate existing video games, while still allowing users to create original games, games of a certain genre, or games based on users' own designs and assets. Anthropic's Addy Osmani confirmed that the company has updated Claude Code's prompt on Opus 5.5, but did not confirm the specific wording in screenshots posted by X users.
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Anthropic has updated Claude Code’s system prompt to prevent the AI tool from being used to recreate 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’ve asked Anthropic if it has or will be updating other Claude system prompts as well.