Sony Interactive Entertainment has filed a lawsuit against Tencent over alleged similarities between Light of Motiram and Sony’s Horizon series. In response to the pending legal battle, Tencent has promptly changed the game’s public portrayal.

According to The Game Post, the lawsuit was filed in the California Federal Court on July 25, 2025. Sony complained that Tencent and Polaris Quest studio’s Light of Motiram is a “slavish clone” of Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West. The company stated that Light of Motiram featured identical gameplay mechanics, visual designs, and narrative.

Sony seeks up to $150,000 in damages per instance of copyright infringement and an order to prevent the game’s release. Sony also revealed that Tencent approached the company at the 2024 Game Developers Conference to collaborate on a Horizon mobile game, which the company declined.

While Tencent has not commented on the lawsuit publicly, it seems the company is doing as much as it can to mitigate legal pressure.

In November 2024, Tencent revealed Light of Motiram, and the game was met with swift backlash from the gaming community and media, pointing out that it bore a striking resemblance to Sony’s franchise, from the red-haired protagonist down to the mechanical beasts and post-apocalyptic tribal world.

Fans on social media jokingly called it “Horizon Zero Originality,” and others stated it looked like a “copy-paste job.”

In response to the backlash and Sony’s intervention, Tencent changed the game’s Steam Page on August 7, 2025. The game’s original description leaned heavily on Horizon’s themes. The words “colossal machines” and “mechanimals” have now been replaced with a more generic survival description:

“Make smart use of everything around you to stay alive and face off against formidable bosses. Every step is fraught with danger and requires courage. Only by overcoming these challenges of survival can you carve out a place for yourself in this unforgiving land.”

Furthermore, artwork has also been reworked. Earlier representations featuring the red-haired protagonist, similar to Horizon’s Aloy, have been swapped for a penguin-esque creature and a dog. Screenshots showcasing mechanical beats and tribal environments have also been replaced with generic open-world images.

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Rahim Amir Noorali – Tech Writer – 155 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2025

I am a UAE-based tech writer who likes to build and benchmark PCs both professionally and as a hobby. I contribute to multiple tech publications, including TechRadar and NotebookCheck, as well as Game Rant, where I focus primarily on news, commerce, and buying guides. When I’m not scouring the internet for the latest in tech stories, you will find me playing a game of Civilization or DotA with friends and frenemies alike while dropping recommendations for Apple TV+’s Foundation to everyone I come across.