Tencent has dismissed Sony’s lawsuit over Light of Motiram as an improper attempt to monopolise common gaming tropes, calling the claims of Horizon’s uniqueness “startling”.
Tencent has pushed back against Sony Interactive Entertainment’s lawsuit claiming its upcoming game Light of Motiram infringes on its intellectual property rights of the Horizon franchise.
In a legal filing obtained by TheGamePost, the Chinese publisher argued that Sony is attempting to “fence off a well-trodden corner of popular culture” rather than defending unique intellectual property.
One passage of Tencent’s response reads: “Plaintiff Sony has sued a grab-bag of Tencent companies – and 10 unnamed defendants – about the unreleased video game Light of Motiram, alleging that the game copies elements from Sony’s game Horizon Zero Dawn and its spinoffs.
“At bottom, Sony’s effort is not aimed at fighting off piracy, plagiarism, or any genuine threat to intellectual property.
“It is an improper attempt to fence off a well-trodden corner of popular culture and declare it Sony’s exclusive domain.”
Tencent has also criticised Sony’s claim that Horizon Zero Dawn is “like no fictional world created before [or] since,” calling it “startling” and arguing it is “flatly contradicted by Sony’s own developers, not to mention the long history of video games featuring the same elements that Sony seeks to monopolize through this lawsuit”.
Sony filed the lawsuit in July 2025 in the Northern District of California, requesting damages and seeking to block Light of Motiram’s development and marketing.
The studio dubbed Tencent’s upcoming title – which is not releasing until 2027 – a “slavish clone” of its Horizon franchise, and pointed to similarities between the two games like a red-headed heroine, a vibrant, post-apocalyptic world and robotic enemies.
Tencent blasts Sony over Light of Motiram/Horizon lawsuit
