Anthropic Confirms Claude Code Limits on Game Cloning as Developers Report Reverse-Engineering Refusals
An Anthropic employee says two sentences were added to Claude Code's Opus 5.5 prompt to steer it away from recreating existing games; the cause of separate reverse-engineering refusals is unconfirmed.
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Anthropic has added instructions to Claude Code that steer its Opus 5.5 model away from recreating specific existing video games, an Anthropic employee confirmed in an October 30 statement reported by Tom's Hardware. Developers say they are also hitting refusals on reverse-engineering work, and Anthropic has not explained those.
Photo: mrganso / Pixabay
The statement from Addy Osmani, quoted in full by Tom's Hardware, confirms the game rule. It does not explain the separate reports. The practical question for developers is where the line falls.
What's confirmed and what isn't
| Claim | Status | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Two sentences added to Claude Code's prompt on Opus 5.5 | Confirmed | Osmani statement, Oct. 30 |
| Aim: avoid recreating someone else's specific game | Confirmed | Osmani statement |
| Original, genre and own-asset games should still work | Stated by Anthropic employee | Osmani statement |
| Exact wording of the added sentences | Unconfirmed | Screenshot posted by X user Chasm |
| Restriction limited to Claude Code with Opus 5.5 | Tom's Hardware assessment | Not confirmed by Anthropic |
| A separate reverse-engineering rule | Unconfirmed | Developer theory |
Anthropic's explanation
Osmani wrote that Anthropic "added two sentences to Claude Code's prompt on Opus 5.5 to steer it away from recreating someone else's specific game because using Claude to infringe IP is against our usage policy."
He said "original games, genre games, and games built from your own designs and assets are meant to keep working." He also said the company would "continue to iterate to ensure we're striking the right balance." He invited users to send him cases where Claude "turns down something that's yours."
The exact text Anthropic added has not been published. Tom's Hardware said it is "possible" that the sentences match a screenshot posted by X user Chasm: "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 renamed or called original." The outlet did not authenticate that screenshot, and Anthropic has not confirmed it.
Reverse-engineering refusals remain unexplained
Tom's Hardware said it had received direct reports of blocked reverse-engineering work. Jarred Walton, a former Tom's Hardware staffer, said Claude had run checks on software he is developing without trouble until October 31. Switching to Opus 4.8 let him continue.
Walton suggested Anthropic may have added a separate reverse-engineering rule to Claude Code. Tom's Hardware noted that several refusal reports surfaced in the same week. It said Anthropic "could be fiddling with cybersecurity-related rules" in the same way it changed the game rules. Neither idea has been confirmed by the company. Osmani's statement covered only games.
The outlet also pointed to issues filed in Claude Code's GitHub repository, where users complained the assistant refused work on their own games or on reverse-engineering tasks.
How far the limit reaches
Tom's Hardware said the game-related blocking appears limited, as far as it could tell, to using Claude Code with Opus 5.5. If that holds, the outlet said, users could get around it by calling Opus through another harness or a wrapper. That is the outlet's reading, not a documented boundary, and it would not change Anthropic's usage policy on intellectual property.
The gap between policy and behavior is the main issue. Anthropic describes a narrow rule aimed at copying someone else's game. Developers describe interruptions to their own projects. Until Anthropic publishes its added instructions or explains the other refusals, users have to judge from individual reports. For more on Anthropic's Claude products, see our report on the Claude Max rename.
What to watch
- Published wording. Whether Anthropic releases the two sentences or updates its Claude Code documentation.
- Reverse-engineering policy. Any statement on whether a separate rule or a cybersecurity change is behind those refusals.
- GitHub issues. Whether reports in the Claude Code repository fall off as Anthropic adjusts the prompt.
- Other models. Whether similar instructions reach models beyond Opus 5.5.
More coverage is on our Artificial Intelligence hub.
How we reported this
DailyMech relied on Tom's Hardware's November 2 report, which reproduces the October 30 statement from Anthropic's Addy Osmani verbatim. We separated what Anthropic confirmed from developer reports and the outlet's own assessment. Claims we could not confirm in the published article were left out.
Published and fact-checked November 2, 2026.
Sources
- Tom's Hardware, Bruno Ferreira, "Anthropic confirms new Claude Code limits to prevent game cloning — users report Opus 5.5 is also actively blocking reverse engineering tasks," Nov. 2, 2026: https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/anthropic-confirms-new-claude-code-limits-to-prevent-game-cloning-users-report-opus-5-5-is-also-actively-blocking-reverse-engineering-tasks
DailyMech used AI tools to help research and draft this article; it was fact-checked by our editors.