Anthropic Updates Claude to Stop Recreating Existing Video Games

Anthropic has updated Claude to prevent users from using the AI assistant to recreate specific existing video games, even if those games are renamed or described as original. The change, first spotted by an X user and confirmed by Addy Osmani of Anthropic's technical staff, leaves original games, genre games, and games built from a user's own designs and assets unaffected.

What changed in Claude

The updated guidance tells Claude to build original games, games in a genre, and games from a user's own designs and assets, while not building a recreation of a specific existing game, even if it is renamed or called original. Osmani said Anthropic wants to steer Claude away from recreating someone else's specific game because using Claude to infringe intellectual property is against the company's usage policy.

What remains allowed

Osmani clarified that original games, genre games, and games made with a user's own designs and assets should be unaffected. He also said Anthropic will continue to iterate to ensure it is striking the right balance.

Why the update matters

The changes come amid a surge of AAA games being decompiled with the help of AI and made available to play on browsers. Recently, Halo: Combat Evolved, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and Grand Theft Auto V have been available as vibe coded fan projects. Anthropic has a history of intellectual property disputes: last year it agreed to pay a record breaking $1.5 billion settlement in a class action lawsuit where 500,000 authors accused the company of using copyrighted material to train its AI models, and more recently the estate of Elvis Presley filed a suit against Anthropic for similar reasons.

Sources: Engadget