‘Based mostly Virtually Totally On Hypothesis’ Tencent Makes an attempt to Dismiss Sony’s Horizon Clone Lawsuit

Tencent has motioned to dismiss Sony’s lawsuit alleging one among its upcoming video games is a duplicate of the Horizon collection. The sport in query, Mild of Motiram, instantly drew comparisons to Guerrilla Video games’ post-apocalyptic open-world RPG when Tencent subsidiary Polaris Quest revealed it in late 2024. Whereas some followers and Sony appear to assume Mild of Motiram and Horizon are just a little too related, Tencent’s newest submitting claims these allegations blow issues out of proportion.

Sony opened the Horizon lawsuit in July 2025, calling Mild of Motiram a “slavish clone” of the Guerrilla Video games collection. In line with the PlayStation maker, the central gameplay, setting, themes, and character design are related sufficient to these in Horizon: Zero Daybreak and Forbidden West to trigger confusion amongst customers and let Tencent profit from the Sony IP’s recognition. Now, although, Tencent has responded by saying that Sony doesn’t have a powerful sufficient argument for the case to even undergo the total lawsuit course of.

Tencent Says Sony’s Horizon Lawsuit “Fails to Allege Info” Sufficient to Warrant a Authorized Continuing

In a September 17 court filing, Tencent requested the US District Courtroom for the Northern District of California to dismiss Sony’s case, saying the lawsuit “fails to allege info ample to state a declare” towards Mild of Motiram. In line with the Movement, Sony’s allegations had been “imprecise” and “undifferentiated,” declaring basic similarities and referencing total conduct from Tencent as a substitute of specifying which copyright-protected properties Polaris Quest infringed or how the studio would capitalize on it. Whereas Light of Motiram has adjusted its description amid the lawsuit to reduce comparisons to Horizon, these sorts of adjustments are widespread with this form of scenario and should not have a lot bearing on the case, which Tencent says is “primarily based virtually fully on hypothesis concerning future conduct” as a substitute of laborious info.

As PlayStation Mascots Come and Go, Horizon 3 Should Stick to Its Bows

Tencent’s movement for dismissal additionally claims that the similarities between Mild of Motiram and the Horizon collection are issues which can be widespread all through the online game panorama. Extra particularly, it cites video games like Breath of the Wild, Far Cry: Primal, and Outer Wilds as different examples that share the identical “style substances.” Declaring how similarities are a bigger trope and never ripping off a selected sport is a typical protection in these sorts of proceedings, and it is a part of what makes such arguments so tough. Notably, Nintendo sued Palworld developer Pocketpair in September 2024 over alleged copyright infringement, and a yr and a number of patents later, that lawsuit remains to be ongoing. Figuring out what counts as borrowing another person’s IP and what’s simply taking inspiration or utilizing broader widespread themes is never black-and-white, making it tough to foretell how these instances could finish.

Curiously, Tencent pitched an official Horizon game to Sony in March 2024, months earlier than it introduced Mild of Motiram. Sony’s authorized filings point out this rejected proposal, though for now, it is unclear if and the way that previous will have an effect on both firm’s case. The lawsuit remains to be in its early days, and copyright disputes are advanced. Whether or not courts will settle for Tencent’s movement for dismissal and, if not, how the case will proceed from there’s unsure.