Sony Sues Tencent Over ‘Light of Motiram,’ Calls It a Horizon Clone
Sony sues Tencent for “Light of Motiram” – a game that is amazingly similar to the Horizon series. The group speaks of a “slavish clone” and demands compensation and a sales stop.
Sony proceeds against Horizon clone
On July 25, Sony Interactive Entertainment submitted a lawsuit against Tencent to a California Federal Court in which the Chinese technology company is accused of copying the Horizon series with his game “Light of Motiram”. The company describes the game as the “slavish clone” of its award-winning Horizon series and wants to prevent the publication.
Light of Motiram is described as an open world game that plays in a world overrun by colossal machines in which players can train and fight mechanimals. This is strongly reminiscent of the description of Horizon Zero Dawn, which is also advertised as an open world action game in a future earth dominated by machines. Both games show dinosaur-like (robot) creatures in a lush jungle world full of sci-fi ruins and have a red-haired protagonist with bow as the main character. Light of Motiram Teaser Trailer: Tencent copies Horizon series
According to Reuters Sony sees a conscious attempt to violate the copyrights in this approach. The Horizon series, which started with Zero Dawn in 2017 and continued with Forbidden West in 2022, developed into one of the most important Playstation brands and sold over 32 million copies.
Tencent originally wanted to cooperate
Particularly explosive: According to the lawsuit, Tencent Sony had proposed a collaboration for a new Horizon game in 2024, but which Sony rejected. Tencent’s proposal provided for a mobile offshoot of Horizon Zero Dawn with “oriental aesthetics”, “survival, crafting and pet tming elements” and “multiplayer components”. The presentation even contained mockups with Aloy in front of the Chinese wall.
Sony accuses Tencent of never disclosed during this meeting that was already working on a game based on the Horizon IP – Light of Motiram had been in development for a year at that time. After the public announcement of Light of Motiram, Sony turned to Tencent with the request to end the violation, but could not reach an amicable agreement. The similarities between the games are so obvious that journalists Light of Motiram referred to Horizon as “Abwlatz” – one even called it “Horizon Zero Originality”. In the lawsuit, Sony quotes public reactions that copy Tencents as “crazy”, “insane” and “shamelessly”. The visual similarities of the mechanical beasts in particular are remarkable.
Claims for damages
Sony demands loud Polygon 150,000 dollars compensation for each game of the Horizon series, which is injured by Light of Motiram. In addition, the company wants all products and marketing materials from Tencent to be destroyed with banned trademarks. Light of Motiram is being developed at Polaris Quest, a subsidiary of Tencent, and is still available on Steam – but without the date of publication. Tencent, the largest gaming company in the world with annual sales of over $ 80 billion (around $ 69 billion), has not yet publicly commented on the allegations.
