Sony sues Tencent over its Horizon Zero Dawn clone

Sony is suing Tencent for copying nearly every aspect of its Horizon games for the upcoming Light of Motiram, an open-world hunting game with some obvious similarities to Sony’s franchise, as first reported by Reuters. Tencent first announced the new game in November 2024.

The lawsuit goes into detail on the various ways Tencent’s new game appears to be unlawfully copying memorable aspects of Horizon Zero Dawn, Horizon Forbidden West and Lego Horizon Adventures. That include the basic setup of the game (a post-apocalyptic setting where tribes of humans coexist with machines), the visual appearance of Light of Motiram‘s characters and even how Sony presents the franchise online. It all adds up to what Sony describes as a “slavish clone” of the Horizon franchise, something Engadget and other publications easily clocked when Tencent first announced the game.

The most damning part of Sony’s lawsuit is its claim that Tencent tried to license the Horizon IP before it even announced Light of Motiram. The company wanted to “develop its own Horizon game in collaboration with SIE (Sony Interactive Entertainment),” Sony claims, and proposed licensing the Horizon IP to create a mobile game that introduced “Eastern aesthetics” and elements like “survival and crafting, pet taming, [multiplayer game modes], etc.” After Sony rejected the offer, Tencent announced Light of Motiram anyway, with many of the mechanics it pitched and using many recognizable visual elements of the Horizon franchise.

In response to the damage and customer confusion caused by Tencent making Light of Motiram, Sony wants an injunction that prevents Tencent from continuing to develop or release the game, along with money and the destruction of anything related to Light of Motiram. The ball is in Tencent’s court to argue otherwise, which seems like it might be difficult.