Tencent Fights Back on Light of Motiram Lawsuit, Argues Horizon Wasn’t Entirely Original to Begin With
The legal battle between Sony Interactive Entertainment and Tencent over Light of Motiram has taken a sharp turn, as Tencent filed a motion to dismiss Sony’s lawsuit, citing lack of jurisdiction, speculative claims, and even questioning the originality of Guerrilla Games’ Horizon franchise.
The dispute began in July 2025 when Sony, the parent company of Guerrilla Games, filed suit in California alleging that Tencent’s upcoming title Light of Motiram - developed by Tencent subsidiary Polaris Quest - was an infringement on Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West. Sony’s claim emphasized the similarities between the two games, from animal-like mechanical enemies to a red-haired female protagonist with tribal-inspired attire. Sony also alleged that Tencent had initially approached them in 2024 about developing a Horizon mobile project, only to proceed with its own Horizon-inspired title after talks broke down.
In its response, Tencent labeled Sony’s claims as legally flawed on multiple fronts. The company pointed out that the lawsuit improperly “lumps” together Tencent Holdings, Tencent America, and Proxima Beta U.S., despite Tencent Holdings being incorporated in the Cayman Islands and headquartered in China, and not directly responsible for game development. Tencent argued that the actual development entities have not yet been properly served in the case, weakening Sony’s jurisdictional basis.
Tencent further claimed the lawsuit is premature, since Light of Motiram is still far from release, with its Steam page now listing a Q4 2027 launch window. Tencent argues that since the game is unreleased, alleged infringements “haven’t happened and may never happen.”
Horizon’s Own Inspirations Cited
In perhaps the most striking move, Tencent’s motion included excerpts from Guerrilla Games’ own creative leads, citing comments made by Lead Artist Jan-Bart van Beek in a NoClip documentary. Van Beek admitted that Guerrilla originally shelved Horizon’s pitch because of its striking resemblance to Ninja Theory’s 2013 title Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, which also featured a post-apocalyptic world, mechanical creatures, and a female lead.
Tencent argued this history highlights how Horizon itself drew from genre conventions and existing titles, making Sony’s attempt to claim ownership over these tropes an overreach.
As Tencent put it:
“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.”
Distancing Light of Motiram from Horizon
Tencent and Polaris Quest appear to have already made some efforts to distance Light of Motiram from Horizon. Screenshots and descriptions have been updated since the game’s 2024 reveal, with the red-haired protagonist - who bore a strong resemblance to Aloy - now removed. The game is also set to feature unique mechanics such as base-building survival systems and online cooperative play, features absent from Guerrilla’s Horizon titles. Guerrilla itself is working on a separate Horizon Online project, though it has not yet been released.
For now, the ball is in Sony’s court as it prepares a response to Tencent’s motion to dismiss. While the lawsuit’s outcome is uncertain, the case raises broader questions about the limits of copyright protection in video games and how much overlap in mechanics, themes, and aesthetics can be considered infringement rather than shared genre DNA.
With Light of Motiram still years away from release, the legal battle may shape not just the game’s future, but also the precedent for how far publishers can go in claiming ownership over creative conventions in the industry.
