Technology
Anthropic Updates Claude Code Prompt to Prevent Video Game Cloning
The prompt change follows the departure of a top product leader as the artificial intelligence startup prepares for an initial public offering.
By Headlinne · Compiled from reporting by Verge, Times of India and Business Insider
Anthropic has updated the system prompt for its Claude Code artificial intelligence tool to prevent users from recreating existing video games.
The company added two sentences to the prompt on Opus 5.5 to stop the coding tool from building direct clones of specific titles, according to The Verge and the Times of India.
The change was first spotted last week by a user on X who traced the instruction to a flag reaching Claude Code around October 27.
Addy Osmani, an engineer at Anthropic, confirmed the prompt modification in a reply on social media.
"We 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," said Addy Osmani, an engineer at Anthropic.
Original games, genre games, and projects built from a user's own designs and assets are intended to continue working normally under the updated guidelines.
The update arrives as retro gaming platforms deal with an influx of low-effort artificial intelligence ports, decompilations, and recompilations.
Independent tests show that Opus 5.5 still agreed to assist with certain reverse engineering tasks, while some developers reported false refusals on their own software projects.
Meanwhile, Cat Wu, who led the product side of Claude Code and served as a top evangelist for the technology, left the company on Friday.
Wu announced her departure in a post on X on Tuesday afternoon, thanking the development team and reflecting on the tool's growth.
Her exit comes weeks ahead of an initial public offering planned by the artificial intelligence startup for later in the month.
When asked if she is taking an extended break following her departure, Wu said, "post agi!"
Anthropic has not stated whether the new anti-cloning rule will be extended to other models beyond Opus 5.5.
Reporting from
- The VergeNot politically framed
Anthropic clamps down on Claude’s AI video game clones
- Times of IndiaNot politically framed
Anthropic adds new rule to Claude Code for game clones: What the AI company has to say
- Business InsiderNot politically framed
Cat Wu, a face of the blockbuster app Claude Code, leaves Anthropic
How this article was made: Headlinne wrote it with AI from the 3 reports listed above. Direct quotes are checked word for word against those reports, every number appears in at least one of them, and no other sentence is copied from one. Photos are from those reports and credited to them. Each report’s page on Headlinne links to the outlet’s original.