Tencent Says Sony’s Lawsuit is “an Improper Attempt to Fence Off” Popular Culture

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Following Sony’s lawsuit against Tencent, alleging that Tencent’s new game, *Light of Motiram*, closely copies *Horizon Zero Dawn* and *Horizon Forbidden West*, Tencent has issued a statement. According to GamesRadar, Tencent accuses Sony of unfairly trying to claim ownership over common themes and ideas in gaming.

Tencent states that Sony has filed a lawsuit against several of its companies, as well as ten unidentified parties, regarding the unreleased game *Light of Motiram*. Sony claims the game borrows elements from its popular game *Horizon Zero Dawn* and related titles. According to Tencent, the lawsuit isn’t about protecting against piracy, copying, or actual intellectual property theft.

Tencent argues that Sony is wrongly trying to claim ownership of common themes in popular culture. Sony has described the world of *Horizon Zero Dawn* as unique, but Tencent points out that Sony’s own developers have contradicted this claim, and many other games share similar elements. Tencent believes Sony is attempting to monopolize these common elements through this legal action.

Tencent also pointed out that art director Jan-Bart Van Beek, who worked on *Horizon Zero Dawn*, previously drew inspiration from the 2013 action-adventure game *Enslaved: Odyssey to the West*.

Tencent argues that Sony is overlooking established gaming elements in its lawsuit. Instead of acknowledging these common tropes, Sony is attempting to claim ownership over widely used ideas. By suing over an unreleased game that simply uses familiar themes found in numerous other titles – including *Enslaved*, *The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*, *Far Cry: Primal*, *Far Cry: New Dawn*, *Outer Wilds*, *Biomutant*, and many others – Sony is, according to Tencent, attempting to unfairly monopolize common genre features.

Tencent responded to Sony’s complaints by pointing out several weaknesses. They argued that Sony didn’t provide any evidence showing Tencent acted illegally in any of Sony’s operating areas, nor did they specify what remedy they were seeking. Tencent stated that Sony unfairly grouped its American companies ([Tencent America, Proxima Beta U.S. and Tencent Holdings]) with the foreign entities it claims are primarily responsible for the issues. Finally, Tencent criticized Sony for basing its claims on speculation about potential problems with the future release of the game *Light of Motiram*.

In July, Sony sued Tencent, claiming that the game *Light of Motiram* closely copied its *Horizon* series and might mislead customers due to the visual similarities. Tencent reacted by altering the game’s marketing, even changing the artwork on its Steam page and removing references to “colossal machines.”

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2025-09-18 17:49