Activision and Bethesda Crack Down on AI-Generated Modern Warfare 2 and Fallout Projects

Microsoft-owned publishers Activision and Bethesda have launched legal action against two separate artificial intelligence projects that recreated their flagship franchises, marking a fresh escalation in the ongoing war between major game studios and creators using generative AI to build playable clones of established intellectual property.

The crackdown targets two distinct efforts. The first, Fallout: New York, was an open-world shooter built to run directly inside web browsers, while the second involved a developer attempting to decompile the original Modern Warfare 2 on PC using AI agents working in parallel. Both projects were shut down within days of going viral.

The Fallout Project That Told Bethesda to Make Their Own Game

Fallout: New York attempted to recreate the beloved post-apocalyptic shooter set against the backdrop of New York City, using Claude Opus 5.5 as its primary coding engine. The project drew immediate attention for how closely it mimicked the look and feel of the original game at a glance.

The creator, ChrisFirst, described the scope of what had been generated entirely through code in a post shared on X. “Quests. Dialogue trees. V.A.T.S. A working Pip-Boy. Zero texture files. Zero sound files,” he wrote. “Every building, weapon, face and sound is generated by code.”

The initial post, uploaded on September 28, quickly amassed more than 3.5 million views as players flocked to try the browser-based experience. But its lifespan was remarkably short.

“Hey, Bethesda Studios how about you make a Fallout game instead so I don’t have to? Sorry to everyone who enjoyed the game! But the suits got involved and the fun is over.”

ChrisFirst

On October 1, ChrisFirst confirmed he was abandoning the project after receiving an alleged cease-and-desist letter from Bethesda for infringing on its intellectual property. He posted a screenshot of the legal threat alongside his announcement.

The Modern Warfare 2 AI Decompilation Gets Nuked

A separate effort to revive Call of Duty’s Modern Warfare 2 drew Activision’s attention this week. Developer Maurice Heumann shared on X on September 30 that he was using generative AI to decompile the source code for the original game on PC.

“With currently 17 agents working in parallel, we’re making progress at an incredible pace,” he wrote about the effort. “The game is fully playable now and almost all visible bugs are gone. Only a few are left. I even managed to get my first nuke.”

Activision moved quickly to suppress the project’s visibility. The footage Heumann had shared in his post was removed, with an apparent clip of the Kill Streak replaced by a warning message reading: “This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner.” A link to the site allegedly hosting the code could no longer be reached.

The takedown appears to have backfired somewhat on its creator. Heumann’s subsequent tweets complained that his AI agents had deleted much of his own work, prompting him to post this weekend: “The fuckers did it again.”

A Broader War Over Vibe-Coded Games

The dual crackdowns come amid a surge in what critics have dubbed “vibe coding,” a phenomenon where creators use generative AI tools to produce knock-offs, decompilations, and reimaginings of existing games. Not every company is willing to tolerate these projects.

Critics argue that going after individual developers rather than the underlying technology mirrors past conflicts between content owners and distribution platforms.

“Going after the little guys instead of the technology, this is Napster and music industry 2.0, we already saw how this plays out, we win they lose.”

A commenter on X

The question remains how long such a whack-a-mole approach can hold up when AI-generated projects that appear to infringe on famous gaming IP go viral every other day. Major publishers have yet to mount the kind of legal battle against AI companies that some figures in Hollywood have pursued.