Jagex killed an AI-coded RuneScape clone in three days with a cease-and-desist

Sep 10, 2026

Summary

OpenAI Codex developer Rohan Varma built Elderwood by prompting GPT-6 Astra to "build RuneScape."

Elderwood drew 3,000 signups and 1,000+ hours of play in its first 24 hours.

Jagex forced the site offline by September 9, three days after Varma's first public post.

Jagex used a cease-and-desist alone, filing no lawsuit and issuing no public statement.

"We received a notice from Jagex asking us to take down the website"

— Rohan Varma, developer, OpenAI Codex team

Varma used one Codex prompt asking GPT-6 Astra to build RuneScape and deploy it to a ChatGPT Site.

Elderwood copied Old School RuneScape skill names, locations, and items one-to-one.

Lifted markers included Woodcutting, Lumbridge, Varrock, Falador, gold pieces, and party hats.

A single prompt collapsed the cost barrier that once limited clone production to funded teams.

Reddit user Nutty103X called for a takedown on September 7, two days before Jagex acted.

Social monitoring surfaced the clone faster than any internal Jagex scanning.

Elderwood's 3,000 signups in 24 hours outran any manual copyright review cycle.

Jagex's case rested on identifiable overlaps: place names, item names, skill names, UI layout.

Concrete markers replaced a subjective "look and feel" argument.

A direct cease-and-desist to the operator avoided the delay of a formal DMCA claim or lawsuit.

For Publishers & Developers: Distinctive named assets - skills, places, items - give legal teams faster takedown leverage than aesthetic similarity.

For Publishers & Developers: Social monitoring, not internal scanning, is currently the fastest AI-clone detection channel.

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