The popular PlayStation franchise Horizon is now at the center of a lawsuit between Sony and the Chinese corporation Tencent. Sony is alleging that Light of Mortiram, an upcoming Tencent game, is the direct result of a Horizon-related pitch to Sony and will confuse people into thinking it’s the next entry in the Horizon series.
With this lawsuit, Sony is now going as far as to prevent the release of Light of Mortiram and obtain compensation from Tencent for what it sees as a Horizon rip-off. It’s the second high-profile game industry lawsuit to emerge this summer, following one between Subnautica 2’s publisher Krafton and the founders of Unknown Worlds.
Why is Sony suing Tencent over Light of Mortiram
Sony argues Tencent isn’t just inspired by Horizon Zero Dawn, but is ripping it off
Since the post-apocalyptic open-world game Horizon Zero Dawn launched in 2017, it has been one of PlayStation’s premier franchises. This lawsuit even reveals the Horizon series has sold over 38 million copies as a whole, putting it on the same scale as a game like Elden Ring. Last year, Tencent subsidiaries Polaris Quest and Aurora Studios revealed Light of Mortiram, a post-apocalyptic open-world game with a world, creatures, and even a main character that looked suspiciously similar to what Horizon offers.
Websites like The Gamer and Game Rant immediately clocked that Light of Mortiram was a little too close to Horizon Zero Dawn and its sequel in design for this all to be a coincidence. Sony agreed and argues that Tencent pursued the development and release of Light of Motiram after Sony rejected a Horizon-related pitch.
Allegedly, Tencent approached Sony executives in early 2024 and pitched a mobile Horizon game that would be an open-world adventure with an Asian-inspired setting as well as survival, crafting, pet-taming, and multiplayer elements. Sony says it ultimately rejected the pitch and believes Tencent went on to make Light of Motiram a standalone game that just heavily copied the look, gameplay, and aesthetic of the Horizon franchise.
Sony’s latest lawsuit reveals the dangers of making a game that’s explicitly a clone of an existing title. While games like Marvel Rivals have found great success in copying and remixing the design of games like Overwatch, if the similarities are too close, it could end up triggering a lawsuit.
Of course, the video game industry evolves over time because games take inspiration from each other and continue to improve. In Light of Mortiram’s case, though, it was too similar to its inspiration to avoid legal action by Sony. It remains to be seen how Tencent will react to this lawsuit and whether Light of Mortiram will end up being released or not.
