Sony has fired back at Tencent in court, calling its defense “nonsense” and accusing it of hiding behind shell companies to dodge accountability over Light of Motiram, a game Sony says blatantly copies Horizon.
Back in July, Sony sued Tencent over its upcoming mobile game Light of Motiram, calling it a “slavish clone” of the Horizon franchise. The lawsuit alleged that Tencent blatantly copied Horizon’s world, characters, creatures, and music.
Tencent pushed back, filing a motion to dismiss in September. It argued the lawsuit was premature, said no actual infringement had happened yet, and claimed Sony was trying to seek “an impermissible monopoly on genre conventions” and that Light of Motiram “time-honored tropes embraced by scores of other games” like The Legend of Zelda, Far Cry, and more.
But now, Sony’s firing back.
In a new 35-page court filing filed today and obtained by The Game Post, Sony is urging the court to reject Tencent’s “nonsense” attempt to get the case thrown out. Sony says Tencent is “playing a shell game” with its many subsidiaries to shield itself from liability.
Sony Says Infringement Has Already Happened
According to the new filing, Sony insists that Tencent’s argument — that the game’s release delay means the case isn’t “ripe” — doesn’t hold up. Tencent recently changed Light of Motiram’s Steam page, pushing the release window to Q4 2027 and swapping Horizon-like art for generic survival imagery, but Sony argues that doesn’t make the earlier alleged infringement disappear.
“Tencent remarkably contends SIE’s claims are unripe because—despite having announced and continuously promoted its game for months—Tencent (purportedly) delayed Light of Motiram’s release until 2027 after SIE sued,” the complaint reads. “This is nonsense. The damage is done—and it continues.”
Sony insists that the harm has already occurred: promotional videos, screenshots, and marketing materials were released globally and remain visible across U.S. platforms like Steam, Epic Games Store, YouTube, and Discord.
“Although the public expressed confusion and outrage upon discovering Light of Motiram for the knock-off that it is, Tencent remained undeterred. Tencent continued promoting its infringing game over SIE’s objection, and Tencent refused to accept any responsibility over its conduct.”
“Tencent attempted to avoid liability by playing a shell game”
Sony also says Tencent is playing corporate hide-and-seek to dodge accountability. In its filing, the company accuses Tencent of running “a shell game with its brands and entities,” using a web of subsidiaries like Aurora Studios, Level Infinite, and Proxima Beta to confuse who’s really behind Light of Motiram.
According to Sony, the truth is that Tencent Holdings, the parent company, is “at the helm.” It holds the U.S. trademark for Light of Motiram, owns the official lightofmotiram.com domain, and operates the broader “Tencent Games” brand. Sony argues that all of those connections point to the parent company’s direct involvement and U.S. targeting.
“After SIE was forced to sue, Tencent attempted to avoid liability by playing a shell game with its brands and entities. Tencent tried to shield Defendants that it owns and/or controls from service of process and now seeks to escape jurisdiction over the parent entity, Tencent Holdings.”
Sony adds that Tencent’s own investor documents show it recognizes gaming revenue at the parent-company level, further undercutting its claim that the holding company is merely passive.
“Tencent Holdings describes its own business as having a Games division that ‘own[s] Aurora Studios’—the Light of Motiram development studio. Tencent Holdings reports all of its revenue and debt from games on its annual report without attribution to any subsidiary. And it uses the name Tencent to advertise its games, like Light of Motiram—without distinguishing between subsidiaries.
“Insofar as Tencent Holdings is in fact operating the gaming business through subsidiaries, it is controlling them. Tencent Holdings’ senior management includes Ma Xiaoyi, who Tencent Holdings represents ‘is responsible for international publishing of Tencent Games.'”
“A knock-off game so blatant that the public loudly decried”
Sony’s filing repeats its earlier claims that Light of Motiram borrows Horizon’s “look, sound, characters, and narrative” right down to the music and tribal-tech aesthetic. It says Tencent even hired a composer who worked on Horizon Forbidden West to recreate the same musical tone.
The company points to fan reactions and press headlines as evidence of real-world confusion: people immediately saw the resemblance and called it a Horizon clone.
“Light of Motiram—a knock-off game so blatant that the public loudly decried the obvious and pervasive copying of Horizon’s protected elements— jeopardizes Horizon’s continued success, including current expansion plans for the franchise,” the complaint reads.
“The copying was so egregious that numerous journalists and Horizon fans called Light of Motiram ‘a major Horizon rip off,’ ‘an obvious knock off,’ a ‘copycat’ with a main character that ‘resembles Aloy to a tee,’ and ‘extremely similar to Horizon Zero Dawn.'”
Tencent has argued that U.S. courts lack jurisdiction because the game hasn’t launched and the right entities weren’t served. Sony’s opposition fires back that the game clearly targets the U.S., the promotional materials were distributed here, the domain is registered here, and Tencent presented the game, which was codenamed “Project Z” at the time, to Sony in San Francisco during the Game Developers Conference last year.
Another key section of the filing focuses on trademark infringement, arguing that Horizon’s main character, Aloy, isn’t just a protagonist but a brand symbol. Sony says her likeness, red hair, and distinctive outfit have become a recognizable source identifier for PlayStation, appearing in promotional banners, merchandise, and even crossover appearances in other games.
Tencent, Sony argues, used a look-alike character “as a brand identifier for Light of Motiram across Steam banners, website mastheads, social-media avatars, app-store icons, and trailer stills. The company cites fan and journalist reactions as proof of confusion, with many assuming the game was connected to Horizon.
“Tencent’s effort to trade off of the ALOY Character Mark’s goodwill and reputation is so egregious that numerous journalists and Horizon fans noted the striking similarities between the ALOY Character Mark and Tencent’s use of the Aloy lookalike, stating Tencent’s lookalike ‘resembles Aloy to a tee – red hair and all,’ ‘is dressed like Aloy with a similar assortment of frills,’ down to ‘her bow and the blue and orange ropes that decorate her body’ and that the ‘character design’ and ‘costume…very clearly just looks like Aloy.’ One journalist even stated that ‘if someone told me this is a spin-off of [Horizon], I would easily believe them.'”
Sony is asking the court to deny Tencent’s motion to dismiss outright. If anything in its complaint is unclear, Sony wants permission to amend the filing and move straight to discovery, meaning depositions, document requests, and potentially a closer look at Tencent’s internal communications.
That’s where the lawsuit stands as of right now. What do you think? Is Sony right that Light of Motiram crosses the line? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
