Image Credit: @horizonfox_ on X
Sony has brought a suit against Tencent in regard to ‘Light of Motiram.’ Sony Interactive Entertainment is suing Tencent Holdings Ltd, and its divisions in an effort to prevent the game’s release.
Tencent, parent company of League of Legends and Valorant developer Riot Games, among others, have been sued by the Japanese gaming giant due to Light of Motiram’s “striking similarities” to Sony’s intellectual property, the Horizon series, which Sony claims Light of Motiram is infringing on in multiple ways.
Sony called the upcoming game a “slavish clone” of its game in the lawsuit, pointing out that several publications, as well as members of the gaming community, had pointed out the similarities between the two games, with TheGamePost sardonically labelling Light of Motiram as “Horizon: Zero Originality.”
Sony outlines its version of Light of Motiram development timeline in Tencent lawsuit
Sony alleges that Tencent began developing the game a year prior to approaching Sony for rights to develop a Horizon game. Supposedly, when Sony denied the request, Tencent continued to develop the game, based on Horizon’s post-apocalyptic world.
Sony further claims that, when Sony approached Tencent to cease development of the game, Tencent tried again to make a deal with Sony. When that deal was rejected, Tencent did not cease development of the game, forcing Sony to take legal action.
The filing states, “Earlier this year, Sony had discussions with Tencent trying to informally resolve its concern that Light of Motiram violated its intellectual property rights. Tencent again sought to license the Horizon intellectual property.”
The filing states that it was made “to prevent the imminent release of Light of Motiram—a slavish clone of SIE’s immensely popular, award-winning Horizon series of video games. Tencent’s copying of Horizon is so blatant that the public has described it as ‘crazy,’ ‘insane,’ and ‘shameless.'”
Sony alleges “striking similarities” to Horizon series in Tencent lawsuit
Tencent’s game features a post-apocalyptic world with robotic creatures, similar to those found in the Horizon series. Tencent describes these as “Mechanimals”, which Sony points out are not only similar to those found in the Horizon series, but “the same animal types” with “other visual elements” similar to the Horizon series.
Sony summarises the similarities as such:
“The overall impression conveyed by Tencent’s adoption in Light of Motiram of the same high-fidelity, post-apocalyptic visual aesthetics blending lush natural environments, tribal culture, futuristic mechanical elements, and ethereal sounds primarily in the soprano register,specific elements of which are identified in thorough detail below, is substantially similar to the Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West audiovisual works and infringes the copyrights therein.”
Sony also noted the similarities between the main characters, stating, “Tencent also used its rip-off of the iconic Horizon main character ‘Aloy’ as the centerpiece of its pre-release marketing and promotional strategy, deliberately causing numerous game lovers to confuse Light of Motiram as the next game in the Horizon series.”
What do you think? “Strikingly similar?”
Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.
