Tencent’s Latest Drama: Sony, Lawsuits, and a Horizon Zero Dawn 'Clone'

Oh, Tencent, you really thought you could pull a fast one, didn’t you? Here we are, neck-deep in drama, thanks to Sony smacking Tencent (and its developer Polaris Quest) with a copyright infringement lawsuit over the eyebrow-raising Light of Motiram. And yes, “eyebrow-raising” is putting it mildly.

Why? Because Light of Motiram didn’t just draw inspiration from Horizon Zero Dawn, it basically copied Aloy’s homework and hoped the teacher wouldn’t notice. Spoiler alert: Sony noticed. Now, Tencent is scrambling to scrub the evidence clean before the court of gaming judgment descends. Buckle up. This one’s juicy. 

The Backstory: Copycats Get Caught 

Here’s the deal. Tencent, the mega-corp behind Light of Motiram, wanted to bring an open-world survival game to the masses. Sounds fine so far, right? But when it approached Sony for rights to use Horizon Zero Dawn’s assets and was promptly told “No way,” Tencent allegedly decided to go full rogue. They slapped together a game with “mechanimals” (their totally-not-suspicious name for mechanical animals), colossal robots, and a primitive survival vibe that looked waaay too familiar—not in a “homage” way but rather a “Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V” sort of way. 

It didn’t end there. Screenshots looked like they were ripped directly from the Horizon playbook, complete with knockoff Aloy vibes. Subtlety? Not in their vocab. And honestly, if you’re going to mimic one of the most iconic games of the last decade, maybe at least try to make it, I don’t know, less obvious? 

Tencent’s Cleanup Attempt 

To absolutely no one’s surprise, Sony filed a lawsuit faster than you can say “copyright infringement.” The legal smackdown wasn’t even 10 days old when Tencent went into damage control mode. The Steam page for Light of Motiram underwent some serious renovations, with all mentions of “mechanimals” and robotic beasts suddenly disappearing. Coincidence? Yeah, right. 

The game’s description now reads like a generic survival MMO. Gone are the “colossal machines” and primitive-yet-mechanical threats. Instead, players face vague dangers like “extreme weather” and “formidable bosses.” Sounds… fine, but it’s not quite enough to distract from the whole “blatantly copying one of PlayStation’s crown jewels” vibe. Nice try, Tencent, but we’ve got receipts. 

If that wasn’t enough, the release date got a massive shove from late 2025 to Q4 2027. Yikes. A two-year delay isn’t your average timeline adjustment; it’s a full-blown project overhaul. The subtext? Tencent appears desperate to redesign this thing from its mechanical roots before court proceedings move any further. Whether that’ll satisfy Sony or the gaming public remains to be seen. (Spoiler alert: Probably not.) 

Why Does This Matter?