It seems Anthropic could (quietly) take steps to stem the tide of AI-driven game remakes that have hit the gaming industry in recent months, which have seen users create their own versions of classic and upcoming games, sometimes for fun, sometimes for financial gain.
Earlier today, user X (formerly Twitter) Chasm said they spotted an update to Claude Code’s “rules” that was released on October 27. The rule is listed under “tengu_heron_brook” and reads: “Create original games, games within a genre, and games from the user’s own designs and assets.” Do not create a recreation of a specific existing game, even if it is renamed or called original. Chasm reports that there is no way to disable the rule.
An Anthropic spokesperson referred us to a statement from Anthropic tech team member Addy Osmani, also posted on “Original games, genre games, and games created from your own designs and assets are expected to continue to work. We will continue to iterate to ensure we find the right balance.”
“In the meantime, if Claude refuses something that belongs to you, send it to me.”
Fear over the potential for rapid AI remakes that could beat the copied game to market has spread among indie developers in recent weeks. Digital Sun Games is one of several studios has cancel their next public playtest lest someone ingest the demo into an AI tool and release their own version of their next game Reorganize. Developers have also pressed Valve to explain how they can prevent shady clones from supplanting their games on Steam, prompting the company to offer a rare explanation to South Korean developers. earlier this week.
While developers may be relieved that Anthropic at least doesn’t want to actively encourage mass copying of games, this rule may only deter less discerning imitators. Scientists and the journalists have repeatedly documented that the security limitations of generative AI tools can be circumvented by deploying rhetorical tricks. It is also unclear how the software would be able to interpret whether or not a user has a game idea or game assets.
And as many users responding to Chasm have pointed out, if Claude becomes too difficult to use, vibe-coding cloners can turn to open-weight models which have no such restrictions in place.
GameDeveloper.com has contacted Anthropic for comment and will update this story upon response.
Updated 10/30: This story has been updated with confirmation from Anthropic.
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