Claude Won't Clone Games Anymore. I Spent a Weekend Finding Out What It Will Do

Anthropic’s Claude, updated for Opus 5.5, now refuses to create recreations of specific existing games, even if they’re renamed or framed as “original.” But the company’s policy change is narrower than headlines suggest. In testing described by the author, Claude still helps with decompiling and reverse-engineering, including work on Valheim updates, mods, porting to PC, and breaking down unreleased games for basic modding or porting. Anthropic says the added rule is meant to steer users away from copying someone else’s specific game for potential IP infringement, while allowing “original games,” genre games, and projects using the user’s own designs and assets.