{"id":1266292,"date":"2026-03-06T22:19:33","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T22:19:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=616944"},"modified":"2026-03-06T22:19:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T22:19:33","slug":"sony-sues-tencent-over-horizon-zero-dawn-rip-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/sony-sues-tencent-over-horizon-zero-dawn-rip-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Sony sues Tencent over Horizon Zero Dawn \u2018rip-off\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Seven months ago, Tencent, the world\u2019s biggest gaming company<\/a>, revealed a new project: Light of Motiram<\/em>, a futuristic open-world game from studio Polaris Quest where machines rule the land. If that sounds familiar, the actual trailer and its cybernetic animals only further implied a specific inspirational source: Sony and Guerrilla Games\u2019 Horizon series. Now Sony is taking Tencent to court over it.<\/p>\n

Filed on July 25, the lawsuit intends to block Tencent<\/a> from releasing the game, which it argues violates Sony Interactive Entertainment\u2019s intellectual property, while also seeking $150,000 in statutory damages for each separate work in the Horizon series infringed. In its lawsuit, Sony calls Light of Motiram<\/em><\/em> a \u201cslavish clone\u201d of Horizon that egregiously replicates some of the signature elements found in the PlayStation series.<\/p>\n

Notably, Sony alleges that Tencent approached them in 2024, through its Aurora Studios, with a proposal to work on a mobile Horizon spinoff game, but the Japanese company declined. Tencent\u2019s pitch, according to the lawsuit, proposed adding \u201cEastern aesthetics\u201d and \u201csurvival and crafting, pet taming,\u201d and multiplayer components to the Horizon series. The pitch deck \u201cincluded mock-ups of Eastern-inspired designs and settings, including one of Aloy [\u2026] standing on the Great Wall of China,\u201d the suit alleges.<\/p>\n

The original trailer for Motiram<\/em> features machines decked in white and blue, much like the enemies do in Horizon, alongside aboriginal-like attire with a tech bent. The protagonists differ in that Aloy, star of Horizon, has long red hair, whereas the main character in Light of Motiram<\/em> is a raven-haired woman with a shorter haircut. But the costumes share some similarities, like the predominance of brown leather. Motiram<\/em>\u2019s protagonist can also wear a helmet that makes her look even more like Aloy, and Tencent is using that combination in its marketing materials<\/a>. In the lawsuit, Sony requests that Tencent hand over all such marketing materials so that it can destroy them.<\/p>\n

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