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Tencent raised eyebrows late last year when it released the announcement trailer for Light of Motiram, an open-world survival game where humans use primitive technology to combat giant mechanical beasts. Sound familiar? Well, Sony certainly thought so, as the company is now suing the China-based studio over copyright and trademark infringement against its Horizon video game franchise.
As reported by Variety, Sony Interactive Entertainment filed a lawsuit on 25 July in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging that Light of Motiram is a “slavish clone” of the Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West video games and requesting statutory damages of US$150,000 for each separate work in the Horizon franchise infringed.
In addition, PlayStation is looking to prevent the game’s release, stating that “Tencent’s copying of Horizon is so blatant that the public has described it as ‘crazy,’ ‘insane,’ and ‘shameless.’ Tencent also used its rip-off of the iconic Horizon main character, Aloy, as the centrepiece of its pre-release marketing and promotional strategy, deliberately causing numerous game lovers to confuse Light of Motiram as the next game in the Horizon series when encountering Tencent’s promotional gameplay videos and social media accounts.”
According to further reports by The Wrap, Sony also stated that Tencent attempted to pitch its own version of Horizon in hopes of sealing a collaboration, and despite Sony rejecting the offer, Tencent moved forward with its plans anyway. Representatives for Tencent did not respond to either Variety or The Wrap’s request for comments.
From looking at the game’s trailer alone, it’s easy to see just how similar Light of Motiram is to Sony’s popular adventure franchise, as apart from the obvious use of the same core man-versus-machine concepts, the upcoming game also features a post-apocalyptic setting, and a tribal protagonist that wields a bow alongside melee weapons to target specific parts of an enemies body, as well as the ability to ride mechanical horses, “train” mechanical beasts, and use ariel gliders, making it seem far more than just mere inspiration.
To be fair, Tencent’s title does feature unique mechanics that differentiate it from Sony’s franchise, such as a focus on crafting structures like what appear to be energy pylons and turrets for base defence, hinting at a strong focus on base building and tower defence, alongside a bigger emphasis on multiplayer co-op gameplay.
Still, the similarities between the two games are just too obvious for Sony to ignore, and only time will tell how the lawsuit plays out, and if there’s trouble on Light of Motiram’s horizon.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
Si Jia
