Hardware Ready Ready to Bench?
Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI model, has introduced new limitations designed to prevent the reproduction of video games protected by intellectual property rights. These restrictions have impacted the development of Pokémon Arena 2D, a free fan game inspired by the popular Pokémon series.
The project’s creator, known online as Big Kid Nation, reported that Claude began refusing collaboration, going so far as to block the use of Pokémon sprites already present in files on his computer. This limitation has significantly complicated the development process.
Pokémon Arena 2D: why it matters
Big Kid Nation had previously stated investing up to $2,000 per month in developing the game, dedicating between 10 and 14 hours a day to it. This financial and time commitment included both learning the necessary tools and actually building the game.
Pokémon Arena 2D is described as a real-time competitive fighting game with pixel art graphics and has been in development for about two years. The creator had planned a public beta for December 2026.
Big Kid Nation explained using AI tools for prototyping mechanics, balancing the game, and exploring new ideas. Meanwhile, he is building a team of human collaborators to support development.
On November 11, Big Kid Nation published a screenshot showing Claude refusing to use original characters from the Pokémon series, suggesting replacement with new fighters fulfilling similar roles. This incident highlighted the impact of the new restrictions.
Claude’s behavior appears directly linked to new rules introduced in Claude Code at the end of October. Addy Osmani, an Anthropic employee, confirmed updating Opus 5.5 model instructions, explaining that the goal is to prevent reconstruction of specific video games protected by intellectual property.
What changes and what are the effects
“We added two sentences to the Claude Code prompt on Opus 5.5 to discourage it from recreating specific games by other developers, because using Claude to violate intellectual property goes against our terms of service,” Osmani clarified.
Osmani clarified that original games, projects belonging to existing genres, and those based on resources created independently by users would remain supported. Subsequently, Anthropic further modified instructions to allow citing existing video games as reference for describing mechanics and genres, while continuing to block direct reproductions.
Reports regarding Pokémon suggest restrictions may extend to using recognizable characters, names, logos, and sprites. Other developers have reported similar experiences, while some users contest applying rules even to amateur projects and modifications made with considered legitimate purposes.
At present, Pokémon Arena 2D has not been cancelled and the official site continues to indicate December 2026 as the expected period for the beta. However, it remains to be seen whether the author will manage to continue developing the project using AI tools on which he based much of the process.
Source and further reading on Pokémon Arena 2D: original article.
* Content created with the assistance of artificial intelligence systems.