Anthropic has added an instruction to Claude Code that steers the coding agent away from recreating specific existing video games, even when a user renames the project or calls it original. The rule applies to Claude Code sessions running Claude Opus 5.5, surfaced publicly on October 30 after a user on X posted its text, and cannot be switched off.
The instruction is two sentences. One tells Claude to "build original games, games in a genre, and games from the user's own designs and assets." The other tells it not to build "a recreation of a specific existing game, even if it is renamed or called original." The X user, who posts as chasm, said it was pushed around October 27 and tied to an internal flag named tengu_heron_brook. Anthropic has not confirmed the flag name.
Anthropic did confirm the change itself. Asked about it, an Anthropic spokesperson pointed to a post by Addy Osmani, a member of Anthropic's technical staff, who wrote that the company had "added two sentences to Claude Code's prompt on Opus 5.5 to steer it away from recreating someone else's specific game."
Key facts
- 01Anthropic added a two-sentence Claude Code instruction on Opus 5.5 that blocks recreating a specific existing game, even if renamed.
- 02Original games, genre games and games built from a user's own designs and assets are still allowed.
- 03The rule surfaced publicly October 30 via an X post; users cannot switch it off.
- 04GitHub issue #106167 says the rule is blocking licensed board-wargame development on Max and Team accounts.
- 05Anthropic's Addy Osmani confirmed the change, and the company says it will keep iterating on the balance.
In practice, a user can still ask Claude Code for a platformer, a roguelike or a game built from their own art and design documents. What the agent now declines is a rebuild of a particular existing title, and the wording is written to catch clones that have simply been renamed.
“Original games, genre games, and games built from your own designs and assets are meant to keep working.”— Addy Osmani, Member of technical staff at Anthropic
The rule is already catching at least one licensed developer. On October 30, a user filed GitHub issue #106167 against Claude Code, titled "Server-delivered 'games' instruction blocks licensed professional development work." The developer, who builds digital modules of board wargames, said Opus 5.5 sessions on Max and Team accounts that had run for months began refusing and citing the new instruction.
The issue asks Anthropic to narrow the rule to actual infringement, add a verification or exemption path for professionals, and document server-delivered instruction changes in the Claude Code changelog. The developer said an automated support reply told them the policy "applies to all customers without exception."
Other Opus 5.5 users have reported related friction, including a refusal to read unlicensed manga translations and trouble working with the reverse-engineering tool Reverse Engineer Anything. Anthropic had not announced those behaviors when users first raised them.
Anthropic says it will keep iterating on the balance between blocking clones of specific games and keeping original game development working in Claude Code.
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