Sony calls Tencent game ‘slavish clone’ of Horizon in new lawsuit

Sony is suing Tencent to attempt to stop the release of Light of Motiram, which Sony describes as a “slavish clone” of its Horizon series of games, as reported by Reuters. Light of Motiram was announced last year with a trailer featuring an aesthetic that’s quite similar to the Horizon franchise — including huge robot animals and even a title font that resembles the Horizon games.

In its complaint, Sony alleges that “unlawful copying of the protected audiovisual elements of the Horizon games, as well as its deliberate adoption of a confusingly similar character mark, constitutes both copyright and trademark infringement that should be enjoined immediately.” 

According to the lawsuit, Tencent started developing Light of Motiram in 2023. At the Game Developers Conference in March 2024, Tencent allegedly pitched Sony on a proposal that would have its Aurora Studios subsidiary “develop a Horizon sequel game under the requested license,” which Sony rejected. “Apparently, Tencent was undeterred by SIE’s refusal to license its Horizon intellectual property,” Sony says.

According to the game’s Steam page, Light of Motiram’s developer and publisher is Polaris Quest. In the lawsuit, Sony alleges that “Upon information and belief, Tencent Shanghai does business under the names ‘Aurora Studios’ and/or ‘Polaris Quest.’”

Sony says that it “had discussions with Tencent” to informally try to “resolve its concern that Light of Motiram violated its intellectual property rights.” However, Sony alleges that Tencent “again sought to license the Horizon intellectual property,” to which it “communicated clearly and unequivocally that it would not license the Horizon assets to Tencent, objected to Light of Motiram, and insisted that it be withdrawn.”

Tencent didn’t reply to a request for comment.

This isn’t the only high-profile lawsuit over allegedly similar video games. Last year, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Palworld-developer Pocketpair. Pocketpair said in May that it had to remove features from the game due to the lawsuit.