Sony Group Corporation filed a lawsuit on Friday, July 25, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, accusing multimedia company Tencent (and its subsidiary Polaris Quest) of copyright and trademark infringement over their upcoming open-world game Light of Motiram. Sony claims the game is a near‑identical copy of its Horizon series, and is seeking litigation relief including damages and an injunction.
According to Reuters, the lawsuit brought forth by Sony claims that Tencent's game Light of Motiram is a "slavish clone" of the Horizon series.
The lawsuit highlights many resemblances between the two games, pointing to side-by-side comparisons of promotional images and descriptions used to market them.
Video game fans instantly took to the internet to point out the similarities between the two games following Tencent's announcement of Light of Motiram.
“It’s very much a Horizon rip‑off… base building, collecting robot animals… feels like the kind of game they'd make if they had access to the IP," someone said on Reddit.
"Yeah, that is shameless. That goes beyond creatively bankrupt; it's creatively malicious," said another commenter.
"The team got the instructions to copy Horizon and boy howdy, did they commit to it," replied someone else.
And, lastly, someone predicted, "There's no way they aren't getting sued over this."
The Horizon series, which comprises Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West, is an action RPG franchise with open-world exploration and a blend of nature, sci-fi, and tribal elements. The games follow main character Aloy, a red-haired huntress, living in a post-apocalyptic world that has become overrun by robots.
In contrast, Light of Motiram has been described similarly as an open-world, post-apocalyptic game where humanity rebuilds amid huge robotic creatures.
Tencent has not announced a release date for their upcoming Light of Motiram. However, Sony has requested that Tencent be blocked by the court from releasing the game. Neither Sony nor Tencent has made any official statements following the lawsuit announcement.