Anthropic has confirmed that it added new restrictions to Claude Code to prevent users from recreating existing video games. But developers say Claude Opus 5.5 is also refusing reverse-engineering and software-analysis tasks it previously handled, raising questions about what else Anthropic may have changed.
For some developers, the refusals are already affecting their work. One developer says paid client projects have stalled because Claude Code won’t work on existing games, while others say the model is refusing to analyze software. At least one developer got back to work by switching to an older Claude model.
On Friday, Addy Osmani, a member of Anthropic’s technical team, confirmed on X that the company had deliberately modified Claude Code’s instructions.
“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.”
“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,” Osmani writes.
He clarifies that developers should still be able to create original games, build within established genres and work with their own designs and assets.
“We’ll continue to iterate to ensure we’re striking the right balance,” he adds, inviting developers to contact him if Claude refuses work involving their own creations.
Anthropic has not publicly confirmed whether the reverse engineering refusals are tied to the new instructions or to separate cybersecurity restrictions.
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