Sony Sues Tencent Over Alleged Horizon Clone 'Light of Motiram'

Horizon vs Light of Motiram (Image Credit: Tencent/Sony)

Sony Interactive Entertainment has filed a lawsuit against Tencent, accusing the Chinese tech giant of copyright and trademark infringement over its upcoming game Light of Motiram.

The lawsuit, filed on July 25 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, claims that the game is a “slavish clone” of Sony’s popular Horizon series.

According to court documents obtained by Reuters and reported by GameSpot, Sony is seeking to block the release of Light of Motiram, which is being developed by Tencent subsidiary Polaris Quest.

The game currently has no release date but remains available to wishlist on Steam. Sony alleges that Tencent not only copied major visual and narrative elements from the Horizon franchise but also used promotional tactics that could mislead fans.

In the filing, Sony stated that Tencent had previously approached the company in 2024 with a proposal to license the Horizon IP. Sony declined, but soon after, Tencent revealed Light of Motiram—a game which Sony claims features identical themes, gameplay mechanics.

“Tencent’s copying of Horizon is so blatant that the public has described it as ‘crazy,’ ‘insane,’ and ‘shameless,’” Sony said in the complaint. The company also argued that the unauthorized similarities have already led to confusion among gamers, with some media outlets referring to Light of Motiram as a “knock-off” or, in one case, “Horizon Zero Originality.”

Sony is demanding a jury trial and has requested statutory damages of up to $150,000 for each infringed work in the Horizon franchise. The company also wants Tencent to hand over all marketing materials and products containing the alleged infringing content so they can be destroyed.

So far, representatives from both Sony and Tencent have not responded to the media.