{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0821","record_version":1,"title":"Claude Code Opus 5.5 over-refuses legitimate game-development work after IP-guardrail prompt change","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":52.8,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":7.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":6.0,"completeness":6.08,"unhedged_language":5.0},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true,"record_integrity":true,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-03","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":1,"reports_independent":0,"reports_derivative":0,"developing":true,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-11-03","history":[{"date":"2026-11-03","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"eadd98fd7136c04403420ec1dd4e1c13fe138e31e073e6577f23fbf117904aa5"},"system":{"model_name":"Claude","model_version":"Opus 5.5","developer":"Anthropic","harness":"Claude Code","tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":["prompt_instructions"],"deployment_context":"production","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":"production","integration_type":"agentic_with_tools","intended_use":null,"safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-11-02","incident_class":"harmful_output","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":null,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"unknown","summary":"Anthropic added two sentences to Claude Code's Opus 5.5 prompt to steer the tool away from recreating someone else's specific game, on the stated ground that using Claude to infringe IP violates its usage policy. Anthropic said original games, genre games and work built from a developer's own designs and assets should keep working. Developers then reported refusals on reverse engineering, decompilation, crash-dump analysis, anti-cheat development and debugging of their own projects, activities distinct from copying a commercial title. Testing showed Claude refused to recreate Pokémon Diamond while the same session assisted with a decompilation project involving disassembled functions, ROM rebuilding from the user's own copy and native recompilation tooling. Published reports identified no in-tool override for affected developers, and Anthropic said it would keep refining the system.","tags":["chatbot","coding-agent","over-refusal","ip-guardrail","false-positive-refusal"],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":"guardrail","root_cause_detail":"The prompt-level restriction evaluates requests on surface signals such as an existing game title or reverse-engineering language rather than confirmed intent or authorization, producing false positives.","failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":"provider","adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":"Anthropic said it would keep refining the system to find a better balance.","precursor_events":null},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"minor","severity_because":"Minor: refusals were contained to individual developer sessions with no third-party data or systems touched and no loss figure stated; the document does not quantify how many developers were affected.","harm_class":["operational"],"affected_description":"Game developers whose legitimate reverse engineering, decompilation, crash-dump analysis, anti-cheat development and debugging work was refused","protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://www.gadgetreview.com/claude-code-just-started-refusing-to-help-game-developers-even-on-legitimate-projects","publisher":"Gadget Review","date":"2026-11-02","type":"press","title":"Claude Code Just Started Refusing to Help Game Developers – Even on Legitimate Projects","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report"}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.model_name":"C","system.model_version":"C","system.developer":"C","system.harness":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.guardrails_present":"C","system.deployment_context":"C","system.lifecycle_stage":"C","system.integration_type":"C","event.date_disclosed":"D","event.trigger":"D","event.detection_method":"D","event.summary":"C","event.tags":"C","event.root_cause":"C","event.root_cause_detail":"C","event.responsible_party":"C","event.remediation":"C","event.incident_class":"C","impact.severity":"C","impact.harm_class":"C","impact.affected_description":"C","impact.severity_because":"C","context.country":"D","context.denominator_available":"D"},"field_citations":{"system.model_name":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Testing reported by XDA Developers via ShiftDelete showed Claude refused to recreate Pokémon Diamond."}],"system.model_version":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Anthropic added two instructions to Claude Code‘s Opus 5.5 prompt to block the tool from recreating specific existing games."}],"system.developer":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Anthropic added two instructions to Claude Code‘s Opus 5.5 prompt to block the tool from recreating specific existing games."}],"system.harness":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Anthropic added two instructions to Claude Code‘s Opus 5.5 prompt to block the tool from recreating specific existing games."}],"system.guardrails_present":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Anthropic added two instructions to Claude Code‘s Opus 5.5 prompt to block the tool from recreating specific existing games."}],"system.deployment_context":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Developers report blocks on reverse engineering, modding, crash analysis, and debugging work that has nothing to do with cloning a commercial title."}],"system.lifecycle_stage":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Developers report blocks on reverse engineering, modding, crash analysis, and debugging work that has nothing to do with cloning a commercial title."}],"system.integration_type":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Anthropic added two instructions to Claude Code‘s Opus 5.5 prompt to block the tool from recreating specific existing games."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Anthropic added two instructions to Claude Code‘s Opus 5.5 prompt to block the tool from recreating specific existing games."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"“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 said, as reported by Game Developer."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"“Original games, genre games, and games built from the user’s own designs and assets are meant to keep working,” he said, as reported by GamesBeat."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Developers are reporting refusals on tasks including reverse engineering, decompilation, crash-dump analysis, anti-cheat development, and debugging their own projects, according to reporting from ProPakistani and Videocardz."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Testing reported by XDA Developers via ShiftDelete showed Claude refused to recreate Pokémon Diamond."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The same session did assist with a decompilation project involving disassembled functions, ROM rebuilding from the user’s own copy, and native recompilation tooling."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Published reports have not identified an in-tool override for developers whose legitimate work is affected."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Osmani said the company intends to keep refining the system."}],"event.tags":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Anthropic added two instructions to Claude Code‘s Opus 5.5 prompt to block the tool from recreating specific existing games."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Developers report blocks on reverse engineering, modding, crash analysis, and debugging work that has nothing to do with cloning a commercial title."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"That creates a risk of false positives for developers working on software they own or are authorized to analyze."}],"event.root_cause":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"When a request references an existing game title or involves reverse engineering, the model appears to evaluate it based on those surface signals rather than confirmed intent or authorization, according to Videocardz."}],"event.root_cause_detail":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"When a request references an existing game title or involves reverse engineering, the model appears to evaluate it based on those surface signals rather than confirmed intent or authorization, according to Videocardz."}],"event.responsible_party":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Anthropic added two instructions to Claude Code‘s Opus 5.5 prompt to block the tool from recreating specific existing games."}],"event.remediation":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"He also said Anthropic would keep refining the system to find a better balance."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Developers are reporting refusals on tasks including reverse engineering, decompilation, crash-dump analysis, anti-cheat development, and debugging their own projects, according to reporting from ProPakistani and Videocardz."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Developers report blocks on reverse engineering, modding, crash analysis, and debugging work that has nothing to do with cloning a commercial title."}],"impact.harm_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Developers caught by false positives have no in-tool option based on published reports, leaving tool replacement as the only documented workaround."}],"impact.affected_description":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Developers are reporting refusals on tasks including reverse engineering, decompilation, crash-dump analysis, anti-cheat development, and debugging their own projects, according to reporting from ProPakistani and Videocardz."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"It remains unclear how widespread the refusals are, which prompts trigger them, or whether specific false positives have already been corrected."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"The document describes a prompt-level restriction added to Claude Code's Opus 5.5 prompt and the resulting over-refusals reported by developers. No specific date of occurrence is given; only the publication date (2026-11-02) is known, so date_disclosed is set to that and date_occurred left null. No monetary loss, record count, affected-developer count, or duration is stated. The refusals are described as reported and partly anecdotal; the document itself notes it is not confirmed that every flagged request came from the new game instruction rather than other Claude behavior. incident_class is a judgement call: the system produced refusals (harmful_output) rather than fabricating facts, and the harm is operational (blocked legitimate work) rather than IP infringement by the model. agent_involved is set false because the document describes refusals in a coding-assistant session, not an autonomous multi-step agent acting with tools; no failure_class is therefore assigned. autonomy_level, detection_method and trigger are unknown because the document does not state them. severity is graded minor on the basis that refusals were contained to individual sessions with no third-party data or systems touched and no loss figure stated; this is a grade-D judgement. Country is unknown as the operator's jurisdiction is not stated. Extractor proposed values without quotes; dropped: ['context.country', 'context.denominator_available', 'context.industry', 'event.adversarial_actor', 'event.agent_involved', 'event.date_disclosed', 'event.detection_method', 'event.trigger', 'impact.reversibility', 'system.autonomy_level', 'system.intended_use', 'system.safeguard_state', 'system.tier']. Single secondary source; corroborate before upgrading any field to B. [2026-11-03: evidence level set: Preliminary (Publisher not yet named · subject to change)]"},"context":{"industry":null,"org_size_band":null,"country":"unknown","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null}}