Tencent is being sued by Sony as Tencent attempts to release its upcoming game Light of Motiram. Sony is describing it as a “slavish clone” of their Horizon series. Announced last year, Light of Motiram shares a lot of similarities with the Horizon series.
When I watched the trailer, the first thing that came to my mind was the Horizon series. Both games are way too similar. There are huge animalistic robots, and the font in which the game name is written also seems quite similar to the Horizon series.
Sony has stated in the complaint 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.”
As per the lawsuit, Tencent started the development of Light of Motiram back in 2023. During the GDC (Game Developers Conference) in March, Tencent pitches the proposal to Sony, “allegedly,” that they want its Aurora Studios subsidiary to “develop a Horizon sequel game under the requested license.” Sony rejected the proposal. Sony states, “Apparently, Tencent was undeterred by SIE’s refusal to license its Horizon intellectual property.”
The Steam page of Light of Motiram states that the game is being developed and published by Polaris Quest. Sony stated in the lawsuit that “Upon information and belief, Tencent Shanghai does business under the names ‘Aurora Studios’ and/or ‘Polaris Quest.’”
Sony’s Take on The Lawsuit
Sony stated that they informally discussed with Tencent to resolve their concerns regarding the violation of the intellectual property for Light of Motiram. However, it did not work, and Sony stated that Tencent “again sought to license the Horizon intellectual property.” Sony clearly rejected the proposal and “unequivocally” reiterated that they will not license anything related to the Horizon series to Tencent. Sony voiced their objection regarding Light of Motiram and insisted on the withdrawal of the game.
There are no comments from Tencent yet.
Similar Case
Light of Motiram and Tencent is not the first case of a high-profile lawsuit related to video games. Last year, Nintendo sued the developer of Palworld Pocketpair for patent infringement. In May, Pocketpair stated that they would remove all the features from the game cited in the lawsuit.
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