Japan’s Sony Interactive Entertainment is reportedly suing Chinese tech conglomerate Tencent Holdings for alleged copyright and trademark infringement, with the action playing out in California federal court reports Reuters & Deadline.
In the lawsuit filed on Friday, Sony’s filing claims that Tencent’s upcoming game “Light of Motiram” is a slavish clone that lifts distinctive elements from the “Horizon: Zero Dawn” franchise.
Sony released the original “Horizon: Zero Dawn” back in 2017, which follows Aloy, a young outcast huntress in a post-apocalyptic United States populated by human tribes and giant robotic animals. The acclaimed two major games in the series have sold tens of millions of copies and spawned spin-offs.
Sony says in its complaint that it declined an offer from Tencent to collaborate on a new “Horizon” game last year. After that, Tencent announced “Light of Motiram,” which Sony says “feature identical gameplay, story themes and artistic elements” to the “Horizon” games along with “many other similarities”.
The filing adds that earlier this year, Sony tried resolve their concerns informally to no avail. Sony has reportedly asked the court for an unspecified amount of monetary damages and orders that “preliminarily and permanently” stop the game from ever reaching the market. “Light of Motiram” currently has no release date but does have a Steam listing.
