Sony has filed a lawsuit against Tencent over its upcoming game “Light of Motiram,” accusing the Chinese tech giant of copying the hit Horizon series and calling the new title a “slavish clone.”
When Tencent revealed “Light of Motiram” last year, the trailer quickly got people talking, but not for the reasons the company hoped. The game, developed by Tencent’s Polaris Quest studio, instantly drew comparisons to Sony’s Horizon series.
With its red-haired protagonist, post-apocalyptic landscapes, and giant robot animals roaming the wild, fans online didn’t hesitate to point out how closely it resembled Horizon Zero Dawn. Comments ranged from disbelief to jokes, with some even calling the game “Horizon Zero Originality.”
Now, things have gotten serious. Sony has officially filed a lawsuit against Tencent (first reported by Reuters), claiming that Light of Motiram isn’t just inspired by Horizon, it’s a straight-up copy. In its legal complaint, Sony is accusing the company of trying to cash in on the Horizon franchise’s success.
Sony Files Lawsuit Against Tencent, Takes Legal Action Over Light of Motiram
Sony’s lawsuit was filed in the Northern District of California last week, on July 25, 2025. In the complaint (seen by The Game Post in full), Sony lays out a detailed case against Tencent and its subsidiaries, calling Light of Motiram a “slavish clone of SIE’s immensely popular, award-winning Horizon series of video games.”
According to Sony, Tencent first approached them in 2024 to pitch an official Horizon mobile game, but after Sony rejected the idea, Tencent simply pressed ahead with their own version anyway.
“In March 2024, several individuals who represented themselves to be Tencent Holdings, Tencent America and Aurora Studios executives approached SIE executives at the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco,” the court filing reads. “These Tencent executives pitched a project to SIE, wherein they outlined Tencent’s desire to license SIE’s intellectual property rights in the Horizon Franchise to create a mobile video game set in the Horizon universe.”
The lawsuit points out that Light of Motiram borrows heavily from Horizon in almost every way, from its setting and story to its characters and even its marketing. Sony highlights how both games are set in a world where humanity has regressed to tribal life and must survive among massive mechanical creatures. The protagonist in Motiram even sports the same signature red hair and tribal gear as Aloy, Horizon’s main character.
“Tencent boasted that its Aurora Studios development team included ‘[d]ie-hard fans’ of the Horizon franchise and provided screenshots of team members’ purported ‘trophies’ earned playing Horizon games, and a photograph of the Tencent team playing a Horizon game together at work,” according to the complaint.
“At no time during this meeting did Tencent disclose that it was already working on a game that was based on the Horizon IP assets. On April 8, 2024, SIE rejected Tencent’s pitch to license the Horizon Franchise IP. SIE informed Tencent that while SIE ‘greatly appreciate[d] Aurora’s level of passion and the effort they put into the pitch… given where Guerrilla Games and Horizon franchise is, we don’t think it makes sense to pursue a Horizon universe crossover or full game development with that IP.'”
Sony also mentions that the music, color palettes, and even the HUD icons in Motiram look nearly identical to what’s found in the Horizon games. “This similarity extends to the music as well as the visual elements,” it reads. “The music (including vocals) in the Light of Motiram is also highly similar thematically and in specific melodies, sounds, rhythms, and structure to the Horizon scores; this was also deliberate, as Tencent hired a composer from the Horizon Forbidden West soundtrack to replicate the unique sound for Light of Motiram.”
So what exactly is Sony suing Tencent for? The lawsuit hits on multiple counts: copyright infringement, trademark infringement, and unfair competition. “Tencent has falsely designated the origin of its goods and services offered using the Aloy knockoff and has engaged in unfair competition in violation of Section 43 of the Lanham Act, 15.”
Sony isn’t just asking the court to block Light of Motiram’s release in the United States. The company is seeking statutory damages of up to $150,000 per work infringed, which could add up to millions of dollars given the number of games and elements allegedly copied.
“An award to SIE, at its election prior to entry of final judgment, of statutory damages of up to $150,000 for each separate work in the Horizon Franchise infringed, for willful infringement, or of SIE’s actual damages sustained as a result of Defendants’ acts of copyright infringement according to proof and Defendants’ profits obtained as a result of their acts of copyright infringement according to proof.”
Sony is also demanding that Tencent stop using any promotional material, assets, or marketing that reference Horizon’s characters or style, and that any existing infringing materials be destroyed.
At the end of the day, Sony is hoping to protect what it calls one of its “most valuable” intellectual properties.
What’s your take on all this? Do you think Light of Motiram is a clear-cut copy, or is it just another case of inspiration in gaming? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!
