Microsoft-Owned Studios Shut Down AI-Generated Fallout and Call of Duty Projects

Two major publishers under the Microsoft umbrella, Activision and Bethesda, have moved to stop independent developers from using generative AI to recreate or decompile their proprietary gaming franchises. The crackdown follows a surge in viral ‘vibe-coded’ projects that aim to replicate established titles, often bypassing traditional development methods by utilizing AI agents.

Fallout: New York Forced Offline

The most recent intervention concerns a project titled Fallout: New York, which gained significant traction after being shared on social media by user ChrisFirst on September 28. The developer claimed to have created a browser-based Fallout experience using Claude Opus 5.5, boasting that the game featured working dialogue trees, V.A.T.S., and a functional Pip-Boy without using any original sound or texture files. By October 1, the developer confirmed the project was being abandoned after receiving an alleged cease and desist order from Bethesda citing intellectual property infringement.

Activision Targets Modern Warfare 2 Decompilation

Concurrent with the Bethesda situation, Activision intervened in a separate project involving the original Modern Warfare 2. Developer Maurice Heumann had publicly documented his process of using generative AI agents to decompile the PC source code of the title. Heumann claimed the AI agents had made the game fully playable, sharing footage of his progress on social media. Activision responded to this by issuing copyright takedown notices, resulting in the removal of the shared footage and the disabling of the links to the hosting site for the project’s code.

Why it matters

These enforcement actions signal a clear stance from major publishers regarding the use of generative AI to reconstruct or emulate their copyrighted works. For players, this serves as a reminder that projects relying on the unauthorized use or transformation of protected IP exist in a precarious legal space, regardless of the technology used to build them. While these AI-driven experiments have captured public interest on social media, the rapid shutdown of both projects demonstrates that publishers are prioritizing the protection of their franchises over the ‘vibe-coding’ movement.

For gamers in the Middle East and globally, these developments highlight an ongoing trend of publishers playing ‘whack-a-mole’ with community-led projects. As AI-generated content continues to evolve, developers and fans alike should remain aware that integrating these tools into fan-made versions of commercial titles will likely continue to attract legal scrutiny from rights holders.