Anthropic has updated Claude to prevent it from creating clones of existing games. This update was initially spotted by an X user, who shared a new rule issued to Claude Code. Listed under a flag called “tengu_heron_brook”, the rule reads, “Do build original games, games in a genre, and games from the user’s own designs and assets. Do not build a recreation of a specific existing game, even if it is renamed or called original.” According to the user, there is no setting to turn this rule off.
This addition has since been confirmed by Addy Osmani, a member of Anthropic’s technical staff. In a reply to the original post, Osmani clarified that the company added the two sentences to Claude Code’s prompt on Opus 5.5 to “steer it away” from recreating someone else’s specific game. The justification for this move is that infringing intellectual property (IP) is against the company’s usage policy. That said, Osmani noted that original games, genre games, and games created with the user’s own assets remain unaffected. Furthermore, he promised that the company will continue to make adjustments until it finds the right balance.
