Late final yr, gamers famous that photographs of Tencent’s upcoming recreation, Gentle of Motiram, had a really hanging resemblance to Sony’s Horizon video games. Sony observed as effectively and subsequently filed a lawsuit towards Tencent. Now, Tencent is arguing that Sony’s lawsuit has no advantage and that the case towards it needs to be dismissed.
In response to The Game Post, Tencent’s movement to dismiss accuses Sony of trying to “fence off a well-trodden nook of fashionable tradition and declare it Sony’s unique area.” Tencent’s place is that Sony’s declare that Horizon Zero Daybreak is “like no fictional world created earlier than [or] since” is contradicted by the sport’s builders and represents an “impermissible monopoly on style conventions.”
Tencent notes that Horizon Zero Daybreak artwork director Jan-Bart Van Beek acknowledged the sport’s similarity to an earlier title, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, in a behind-the-scenes documentary. In response to Tencent, Sony initially shelved Horizon over these similarities earlier than in the end producing the sport.
Sony’s unique grievance cited a March 2024 assembly between the corporate and Tencent a couple of potential Horizon spin-off cell recreation that was in the end rejected by Sony. Tencent’s movement to dismiss acknowledges {that a} assembly passed off, however states, “no Tencent Holdings executives or workers had been at this assembly,” and provides that “Sony has did not make a prima facie exhibiting that any actions at this assembly brought about hurt to Sony.”
The movement goes on to state that Tencent Holdings, Tencent America, and Proxima Beta U.S. needs to be dismissed from the lawsuit as a result of Sony “can not [specifically] substantiate the claims it brings towards [them].” Gentle of Motiram is being developed by two Tencent-affliliated corporations, Polaris Quest / Aurora Studios and Proxima Beta PTE Ltd., a subsidy primarily based in Singapore.
Tencent additionally states that since Gentle of Motiram hasn’t been launched, “the alleged infringements haven’t occurred and will actually by no means happen.”
Shortly after Sony filed the lawsuit, Tencent modified a number of components on Light of Motiram’s Steam page, and the Horizon-like imagery was eliminated. Gentle of Motiram is anticipated to be launched in 2027.