Sony has filed a lawsuit against Tencent for plagiarizing the Horizon series

The Sony Corporation has filed a lawsuit against Tencent, accusing the Chinese giant of copyright infringement. Sony insists that Tencent’s subsidiary team’s survival game, Light of Motiram, is a blatant copy of the Horizon series games.

Light of Motiram

Sony indicated that the games share too many similarities. Both are set in a post-apocalyptic future filled with animal-like robots, with humanity reverting to a primitive state. Moreover, the games have a similar visual style. They even use almost identical fonts.

Left — scenes from Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West, right — scenes from Light of Motiram

According to Sony, the Chinese developers knew exactly what they were doing. The lawsuit states that in early 2024, Tencent proposed collaborating with its subsidiary, Aurora Studios, to create a joint project within the Horizon universe. Sony declined. Later, Sony discovered that Light of Motiram had already been in development for a year by that point. After the public announcement of the title, Sony reached out to Tencent requesting they cease the infringement, but they could not reach an amicable agreement.

Left — scenes from Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West, right — scenes from Light of Motiram

It is noted that the official author of Light of Motiram is listed as the studio Polaris Quest. Sony is convinced that this name either hides Aurora Studios or another Tencent subsidiary.

Sony wants the court to prohibit the distribution of Light of Motiram and to order Tencent to pay them compensation of $150,000 for each copyright violation in the game.