Tencent Pushes Back Against Sony’s Lawsuit Over Horizon "Clone" Allegations

Image Credit: Sony/Tencent

Tencent has officially responded to Sony’s lawsuit over its upcoming game Light of Motiram, which Sony has described as a "slavish clone" of the Horizon series.

The legal battle, which began in July, is heating up as Tencent has filed a motion to dismiss the case, claiming Sony is trying to monopolize long-standing genre tropes.

Sony’s Initial Complaint

Sony filed its lawsuit in a California federal court, alleging that Light of Motiram copies "core creative elements" of Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West. The complaint points to the game’s post-apocalyptic setting, robotic wildlife, tribal survivalist themes, and even its red-haired female protagonist as evidence that Tencent has willfully infringed Horizon’s copyrights and trademarks.

Sony also highlighted an earlier interaction in 2024 at GDC, when Tencent reportedly pitched a Horizon mobile spin-off that Sony declined. The company now argues that Tencent simply went ahead and made a Horizon-like game without approval.

Tencent’s Defense

Tencent’s response doesn’t pull punches. According to a filing obtained by The Game Post, the Chinese tech giant called Sony’s claims "startling" and "an improper attempt to fence off a well-trodden corner of popular culture." In short, Tencent believes Sony is trying to take ownership of genre conventions that dozens of other games have used before.

The filing directly references games like Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Far Cry: Primal, Outer Wilds, and Biomutant. Tencent argues that the same "ingredients" Sony is trying to claim as proprietary have been around for years and are shared across the industry.

"By suing over an unreleased project that merely employs the same time-honored tropes embraced by scores of other games, Sony seeks an impermissible monopoly on genre conventions," the company wrote.

Horizon’s Own Origins Questioned

Tencent went a step further by pointing out that even Guerrilla’s developers didn’t consider Horizon’s concept completely original.

The motion cites comments from Horizon art director Jan-Bart van Beek in a NoClip documentary, where he admitted that the early concept felt strikingly similar to Ninja Theory’s 2010 title Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. Tencent claims Sony originally shelved the idea for that very reason, only to revive it later with "full awareness that the idea was far from novel."

Legal Technicalities and Timing

Beyond the creative arguments, Tencent is also attacking the lawsuit on technical grounds. The company says Sony sued the wrong entities, noting that Light of Motiram is being developed by Polaris Quest and Aurora Studios, subsidiaries under Tencent Technology in Shanghai, not the U.S. arms Sony named in the case. Tencent Holdings, they argue, is simply a parent company and not directly involved in development or publishing.

Timing is another crucial factor. Light of Motiram isn't even set to release until late 2027. Tencent argues that the lawsuit is based on speculation: what the game "could" look like or what U.S. companies "might" do. Tencent states, "The alleged infringements have not occurred and may never actually occur."

However, its development arm already updated the game’s Steam page in August. Screenshots of a red-haired protagonist that bore a striking resemblance to Aloy were removed, and the description shifted to emphasize survival elements rather than Horizon-style tribal aesthetics. A release window of Q4 2027 was also added.

Tencent also responded about pitching an idea to Sony at GDC. They clarified that while some of its subsidiaries attended, no agreement on licensing terms was reached, and no infringing material was presented or shared.