THE ESSENTIALS IN 30 SECONDS

  • A prompt rule tells Claude Code to refuse building a recreation of a specific existing game, even under a new name, while still allowing original and genre games and projects using the user's own assets.
  • According to Data Studios, Anthropic's Addy Osmani confirmed on October 30 that two sentences were added to Claude Code's prompt for Opus 5.5, citing the ban on IP infringement in the usage policy.
  • Users cited by Tom's Hardware report refusals on crash-dump analysis, reverse-engineering tools and anti-cheat work, though the cause of every case is not established.

Developers using Claude Code, Anthropic's coding agent, have found a new boundary: it will no longer help rebuild a specific video game that already exists. The change, first noticed by users around October 27, has prompted complaints that it also blocks work with no obvious link to copying games.

What the rule says

The instruction, as shared by users and described by Tom's Hardware and Data Studios, tells the model not to build a recreation of a particular existing game, even if the project is renamed or presented as original. Original games, games within an established genre and games built from the user's own designs and assets remain allowed.

Data Studios reports that Addy Osmani, a member of Anthropic's technical staff working on Claude Code, confirmed on X on October 30 that the company had added two sentences to Claude Code's prompt for the Opus 5.5 model. He linked the change to Anthropic's usage policy, which forbids using Claude to infringe intellectual property, and invited developers whose legitimate projects are refused to contact him. Because the rule sits in the prompt, it shapes the model's judgement rather than acting as a separate filter. It has not appeared in the Claude Code changelog or help pages, according to the same report.

What developers are reporting

Tom's Hardware collected complaints from GitHub and social media. Some users say Claude stopped midway through building their own games, when copying a single mechanic or when patching a tabletop-style game. Others describe refusals to analyse a simple Windows crash dump, to help remove unwanted software from a Samsung TV, to use a reverse-engineering tool, or to support anti-cheat development and security reviews. The publication notes that at least one complainant has a verifiable track record, while some reports could come from people with harmful aims.

Open questions

It is not clear that every refusal stems from the game rule. Tom's Hardware points out that Anthropic also tightened access to advanced cybersecurity capabilities in October, and the two sets of restrictions may overlap. Anthropic says it will keep adjusting the wording, per Data Studios. The episode illustrates how a short policy line in a widely used tool can change daily work for many developers at once, without formal release notes.