Sony sues Tencent over «slave clone» Horizon

Sony has filed a lawsuit against Tencent over Light of Motiram — a Chinese clone of Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West.

In the lawsuit against Tencent, Sony claims that the Chinese giant was not just inspired by the Horizon series of games, but actually copied it. According to the case file, Tencent allegedly stole:

• the general concept of the game;
• gameplay mechanics;
• visual style;
• artistic design, including characters, robotic monsters and the atmosphere of a post-apocalyptic world.

According to Sony, the level of similarity is so high that it can no longer be considered mere inspiration — it is a direct violation of copyright. In addition to the lawsuit, the company openly called Light of Motiram «a slave clone of».

Interestingly, last year, Tencent allegedly approached Sony with the idea of co-creating a game in the Horizon universe. However, the company rejected this offer. After that, Tencent decided to continue developing Light of Motiram on its own — without official permission to use Horizon elements. However, the company definitely rejected some points: knowing Chinese gaming trends, the main character would not be intentionally «ugly».

The game is being developed on PC (Steam) is a subsidiary studio of Tencent — Polaris Quest. It was first presented last year, and immediately after the screening, accusations of plagiarism began to be heard. It was hard not to notice the similarities between the heroines armed with bows and the game world, which is full of mechanical creatures. This became especially apparent when some of the the so-called «Mechanimals» reminded the fans of the well-known «Thunderjaw» and «High neck».

While visually the game does resemble Eloy’s adventure universe — with its wild landscapes, futuristic technology, and mechanical creatures — it is essentially different. In the so-called «slave clone», the emphasis is shifted to survival: the player has to tame mechanical animals, build a base and unite with others in a cooperative mode. Instead, Horizon focuses on the protagonist’s personal story, deep plot, and open-world exploration. But both games feature post-apocalypse, tribes of people, and robotic beasts.

In the lawsuit, Sony demands monetary compensation (the amount is not specified) and a ban on the use of any elements that infringe on Horizon. Tencent has not yet commented. However, lawyers already say that even if the game is similar, the court still needs to prove infringement, not just coincidence. Therefore, the company will face long litigation.

Source: Reuters