Tencent Says Sony 'Monopolising' Genre Conventions, Seeks Dismissal of Light of Motiram Lawsuit

Tencent has responded to Sony's lawsuit, dismissing the company's claim that its open-world survival title, Light of Motiram, infringed on copyrights held by the PlayStation parent. Sony, in its lawsuit filed in July, had said Tencent's Light of Motiram was a “slavish clone” of its Horizon games. The Chinese conglomerate has now hit back, accusing Sony of “monopolising” well-trodden genre conventions, and called for the lawsuit to be thrown out.

In a filing spotted by The Game Post, Tencent rejected allegations of copyright infringement and called the alleged similarities between Light of Motiram and Horizon games “time-honored tropes” seen in other titles released before and after Horizon Zero Dawn.

“At bottom, Sony's effort is not aimed at fighting off piracy, plagiarism, or any genuine threat to intellectual property,” Tencent said in its filing. “It is an improper attempt to fence off a well-trodden corner of popular culture and declare it Sony's exclusive domain.”

Sony Seeking 'Monopoly' Over Genre, Says Tencent

The company said Sony's claim that Horizon Zero Dawn's setting was unique and unlike any other fictional world created before or after the game's release was “startling” and “contradicted” by Sony's own studio, Guerrilla Games. Tencent claimed several video games through history came with the same features Sony was seeking to “monopolise” through its lawsuit.

“Sony's Complaint tellingly ignores these facts. Instead, it tries to transform ubiquitous genre ingredients into proprietary assets,” Tencent claimed in its response. “By suing over an unreleased project that merely employs the same time-honored tropes embraced by scores of other games released both before and after Horizon—like Enslaved, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Far Cry: Primal, Far Cry: New Dawn, Outer Wilds, Biomutant, and many more—Sony seeks an impermissible monopoly on genre conventions.”

Light of Motiram was announced in November 2024
Photo Credit: Tencent/ Polaris Quest

Tencent's Offer for Horizon License

In its lawsuit, Sony had claimed that Tencent had approached it with an offer to collaborate on a new "Horizon" mobile game in 2024, which the company declined. Tencent responded to the claim and said there was no agreement on licensing terms and none of its executives or employees were present at this meeting.

“But even if the pitch meeting between Sony and other Tencent entities could somehow be attributed to Tencent Holdings, Sony has failed to make a prima facie showing that any actions at this meeting caused harm to Sony,” the firm said.

“Nothing that occurred at the San Francisco meeting—i.e., a request to a ‘license in the Horizon intellectual property'—is alleged to be an act of copyright or trademark infringement.”

Tencent's Motion to Dismiss

Tencent is seeking a dismissal of Sony's lawsuit on legal grounds, as well, claiming PlayStation-owner had sued the wrong parties, none of which were involved in developing or publishing Light of Motiram. Sony had sued Tencent in US, making Tencent America, Proxima Beta US, and Tencent Holdings defendants in the case.

Light of Motiram, on the other hand, is being produced by Tencent-affiliated firms, Polaris Quest / Aurora Studios, a Chinese developer operating under Tencent Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, and Proxima Beta PTE Ltd., a Singapore-based firm “doing business as ‘Tencent Games' and/or ‘Level Infinite',” according to Tencent's motion to dismiss.

Tencent also said that Light of Motiram wasn't even out yet, with a launch window of Q4 2027. So, the copyright infringement alleged by Sony hadn't even occurred yet — and “may in fact never occur.” the company argued.

Sony had sued Tencent in July, accusing Light of Motiram of copying several elements from Guerrilla Games' Horizon Zero Dawn and its sequel Horizon Forbidden West. Sony argued that Tencent's upcoming survival game could confuse customers. The company sought monetary damages and an injunction on the offending game.

Light of Motiram was announced with a trailer in November 2024 and instantly drew comparisons with the Horizon franchise due to its post-apocalyptic setting, its red-haired female protagonist, and its tameable mechanical creatures. Following Sony's lawsuit, Tencent reportedly scrubbed the game's Steam page, removing images and text that seemed inspired by the Horizon games.