Sony sues Tencent over 'Light of Motiram,' calls game 'slavish clone' of its Horizon series
Sony Interactive Entertainment
has filed a federal lawsuit against Chinese tech giant Tencent, alleging the company's upcoming game "
Light of Motiram
" is a "slavish clone" that unlawfully copies core elements from Sony's blockbuster
Horizon
video game series. The July 25 filing in California federal court seeks $150,000 in statutory damages for each separate work infringed and an immediate injunction to block the game's release.
The lawsuit centers on striking similarities between Light of Motiram and Sony's
Horizon Zero Dawn
and
Horizon Forbidden West
games, both featuring red-haired female protagonists battling robotic creatures in post-apocalyptic worlds. Sony claims Tencent's promotional materials, including trailers and screenshots, "misappropriated protectable elements" of the Horizon franchise to a "significant degree," causing consumer confusion about whether the games are related.
Tencent pitched Sony a partnership before creating competing game
Court documents reveal that Tencent approached Sony at a March 2024 gaming conference in San Francisco, proposing a collaboration to develop a new Horizon game. After Sony rejected the pitch, Tencent allegedly continued developing Light of Motiram in secret before announcing the project later that year. Sony claims Tencent had already begun work on the game in 2023, prior to the partnership proposal.
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When Sony attempted to resolve the dispute informally, Tencent reportedly sought again to license Horizon intellectual property. Sony firmly declined and demanded Light of Motiram be withdrawn, but Tencent rejected these demands and signaled plans to proceed with the game's development.
Sony uses community's 'shameless' callouts to strengthen its case
The lawsuit cites widespread public recognition of the games' similarities, including media who dubbed Light of Motiram "Horizon Zero Originality" and community comments describing it as "shameless." One Steam user comment included in the filing reads: "Not only does it look like a copy of the Horizon games, but you had the cheek to copy the cover art as well."
Sony's Horizon series, which debuted in 2017, has sold tens of millions of copies across multiple games and spin-offs. Light of Motiram is being developed by
Polaris Quest
, a Tencent subsidiary, with no confirmed release date. Neither company responded to requests for comment regarding the lawsuit.
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