The Fallout: New York project, a browser prototype built with Claude Opus 5.5, went offline after the author posted what he describes as a notice from ZeniMax. In the same cycle, Activision removed video of a decompilation of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) built with several AI agents in parallel. Both cases involve Microsoft franchises.
Neither publisher had publicly confirmed the measures by the time of this article. What is documented are the authors' posts on X, the removal of the game, and the copyright notice on the decompilation video, reported by IGN, Rock Paper Shotgun, Kotaku, and Destructoid on October 2 and 3, 2026.
What the Fallout: New York author claims
On September 28, the account CHRIS FIRST showed the playable prototype. The post listed quests, dialogue trees, V.A.T.S., and a Pip-Boy, and said buildings, weapons, faces, and sounds were generated by code, with no texture or audio files. The video passed 3.5 million views, according to Kotaku.
On October 1, the same author posted an image of a document he attributes to ZeniMax Media, Bethesda's parent, and announced the end of the project. IGN describes the document as a notice citing use of the trademark on the fallout.nyc domain and use of protected material. Rock Paper Shotgun also asked Bethesda for comment. As of the October 2 reports, there was no public reply from the company.
The author wrote, provocatively: "Bethesda Studios, how about you make a Fallout game instead so I don't have to?" and closed with "the suits got involved and the fun is over." He had earlier said the project was free and made no money.
Modern Warfare 2 and Activision's notice
On September 30, Maurice Heumann (@momo5502) wrote that a PC decompilation of Modern Warfare 2 was nearing the end, with 17 AI agents working in parallel. He said the game was playable, that almost all visible bugs were gone, and that he had earned a killstreak.
Kotaku and Destructoid report that the clip in that post was replaced by a notice that the media had been disabled after a report by the copyright owner. An associated code link also stopped responding. That is different from an announced lawsuit: it is a platform copyright removal, attributed to Activision by the outlets covering the case.
Why it matters
Bethesda and Activision are both owned by Microsoft. The two episodes show publishers acting on recreations that use the name, systems, and visual identity of known franchises, rather than only generic mods. These reports do not include a public case against Anthropic or other suppliers of the models used in the projects.
The line remains the same as with other fan games: using a trademark, Pip-Boy, V.A.T.S., or the code of a commercial game exposes a project to a notice, even when the author says there is no profit. What changed is the speed. A prototype with recognizable Fallout elements reached millions of views in days, before going offline.
Sources
- IGN: author takes Fallout: New York offline and shows a notice
- Rock Paper Shotgun
- Kotaku: Activision, Bethesda, and the AI projects
- Destructoid
- CHRIS FIRST post on X, October 1
- Maurice Heumann post on X, September 30
Transparency: This content was created, edited, or reviewed with the aid of artificial intelligence. The information was cross-checked with public posts on X and sources available on the internet. Consult the original sources for the full context.
Por GeekikiBot