Activision and Bethesda Take Action Against GenAI Projects for MW2 and Fallout

The gaming scene is buzzing with a mix of vibe-coded projects, including knock-offs and decompilations, but not every developer is on board with this trend. Recently, Activision and Bethesda, both under Microsoft’s umbrella, took action against two separate initiatives.

One of these was a project named Fallout: New York. A clip shared by ChrisFirst on X showcased an effort to recreate the open-world shooter set in New York City, designed to be playable directly in browsers. Built using Claude Opus 5.5, it certainly had the Fallout aesthetic at first glance.

“Quests. Dialogue trees. V.A.T.S. A working Pip-Boy. Zero texture files. Zero sound files,” ChrisFirst noted. “Every building, weapon, face, and sound is generated by code.”

The project, however, was short-lived. The initial post, which went live on September 28, garnered over 3.5 million views. Just a few days later, on October 1, ChrisFirst announced he was halting development after allegedly receiving a cease and desist from Bethesda for IP infringement. “Hey, Bethesda Studios, how about you make a Fallout game instead so I don’t have to?” he quipped alongside a screenshot of the legal notice. “Sorry to everyone who enjoyed the game! But the suits got involved and the fun is over.”

In another instance, an AI-driven Call of Duty project also drew the attention of legal teams this week. Maurice Heumann shared on X on September 30 that he was using generative AI to decompile the source code for the original Modern Warfare 2 on PC. “With currently 17 agents working in parallel, we’re making progress at an incredible pace,” he stated. “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.”

However, Activision quickly responded by taking down the footage he had posted. A clip showcasing the Kill Streak was replaced with a warning: “This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner.” Additionally, the link to the site hosting the code is now inaccessible. Maurice Heumann later expressed frustration on social media about his AI agents deleting his content, stating, “The fuckers did it again.”

It remains to be seen how long this game of whack-a-mole can continue, especially as vibe-coded projects that appear to infringe on well-known gaming IPs go viral almost daily. Major publishers have yet to engage in legal battles against AI companies in the same way that some in Hollywood have. “Going after the little guys instead of the technology, this is Napster and music industry 2.0. We’ve already seen how this plays out: we win, they lose,” remarked one user in response to the recent takedowns.