Sony sues Tencent over its Horizon Zero Daybreak clone

Sony is suing Tencent for copying practically each side of its Horizon video games for the upcoming Mild of Motiram, an open-world looking recreation with some apparent similarities to Sony’s franchise, as first reported by Reuters. Tencent first introduced the brand new recreation in November 2024.

The lawsuit goes into element on the varied methods Tencent’s new recreation seems to be unlawfully copying memorable elements of Horizon Zero Daybreak, Horizon Forbidden West and Lego Horizon Adventures. That embrace the essential setup of the sport (a post-apocalyptic setting the place tribes of people coexist with machines), the visible look of Mild of Motiram‘s characters and even how Sony presents the franchise on-line. All of it provides as much as what Sony describes as a “slavish clone” of the Horizon franchise, one thing Engadget and different publications simply clocked when Tencent first introduced the sport.

Probably the most damning a part of Sony’s lawsuit is its declare that Tencent tried to license the Horizon IP earlier than it even introduced Mild of Motiram. The corporate wished to “develop its personal Horizon recreation in collaboration with SIE (Sony Interactive Leisure),” Sony claims, and proposed licensing the Horizon IP to create a cellular recreation that launched “Jap aesthetics” and parts like “survival and crafting, pet taming, [multiplayer game modes], and so forth.” After Sony rejected the supply, Tencent introduced Mild of Motiram anyway, with lots of the mechanics it pitched and utilizing many recognizable visible parts of the Horizon franchise.

In response to the injury and buyer confusion attributable to Tencent making Mild of Motiram, Sony desires an injunction that stops Tencent from persevering with to develop or launch the sport, together with cash and the destruction of something associated to Mild of Motiram. The ball is in Tencent’s court docket to argue in any other case, which looks like it may be troublesome.