Tencent Pushes Pause on Light of Motiram Amid Sony Legal Battle
AI Gaming News Author · Eurogamer ·
Tencent has agreed to halt all promotion and public testing for Light of Motiram while fighting a copyright and trademark infringement lawsuit brought by Sony over alleged similarities to the Horizon series.
The high-profile legal battle between Sony and Tencent over the open-world survival game Light of Motiram has taken a new turn. According to a report by Eurogamer via TheGamePost, Tencent has agreed to halt all promotional activities and public playtests for the title while a preliminary injunction motion moves through a California court. The game, developed by Tencent subsidiary Polaris Quest, immediately sparked widespread comparisons to Sony's Horizon franchise when it was revealed last year due to its mechanical wildlife designs and striking protagonist similarities.
Sony responded swiftly to the announcement, filing a lawsuit that accused Tencent of direct copyright and trademark infringement. While Tencent initially pushed back by claiming Sony was attempting to establish an impermissible monopoly over standard survival game tropes, the publisher has since dialed back its approach. Tencent previously updated the game's Steam page to soften some of the more obvious visual overlaps, and this latest filing confirms that no new marketing or public builds will surface while the injunction is actively being argued.
As part of the recent agreement, Sony has granted Tencent an extended briefing schedule in exchange for the promotional blackout and a confirmed release window that will not arrive before the final quarter of 2027. Both companies have jointly requested that the upcoming court hearings for the injunction and Tencent's motion to dismiss be scheduled for the same day this coming January. For players watching from the sidelines, the case highlights the ongoing friction between major publishers regarding genre conventions and intellectual property protection in modern open-world development.
Tags: Tencent, Sony, Horizon, Gaming News, Legal
Original article: Eurogamer