Final summer season, Sony filed a lawsuit in opposition to Tencent over Light of Motiram, a sport that the previous alleges is a “slavish clone” of the Horizon franchise. Now, the 2 sides have apparently struck a brief deal forward of an vital court docket listening to that will decide whether or not the case goes ahead.
As reported by The Game Post, a brand new submitting in court docket acknowledges that Sony and Tencent have been “engaged in discussions as a way to resolve the present dispute.” Most notably, Tencent requested for extra time to reply to the movement for an injunction, and Sony agreed in trade for sure concessions. The phrases name for Tencent to pause all public promotion or testing for Light of Motiram whereas additionally agreeing to not argue in court docket that Sony delayed its request for emergency reduction by granting the extension.
The submitting additionally notes an settlement between the 2 sides that Tencent will not ask for expedited discovery in reference to the preliminary injunction in opposition to Light of Motiram. It additionally requires Tencent to carry the sport to its This autumn 2027 launch window relatively than transferring it up. Lastly, the court docket doc revealed one other space the place Tencent and Sony see eye-to-eye. The 2 sides collectively requested {that a} listening to for Tencent’s movement to dismiss and a second listening to held for Sony’s injunction request be held on the identical day: January 29, 2026.
On the coronary heart of Sony’s case is an accusation that Tencent deliberately tried to confuse gamers by passing Light of Motiram off as a Horizon-related sport. Previous to the authorized fireworks, Tencent apparently pitched Sony a Horizon sport that was set in Asia, which was finally turned down. As soon as the lawsuit was filed, Tencent pulled the Horizon-like imagery from the sport’s Steam web page. In court docket, Tencent claimed that Sony’s lawsuit was an try and get a monopoly on video games just like Horizon.
Tencent additionally argued that it wasn’t answerable for any damages as a result of any earlier discussions a few Horizon sport and even the event of Light of Motiram had been completed by subsidies owned or partially owned by Tencent. In response, Sony accused Tencent of enjoying a authorized shell sport to keep away from the repercussions of infringing on its mental property.
As these authorized maneuvers performed out, Sony and NCSoft introduced a brand new MMORPG known as Horizon Metal Frontiers, which can be coming to cellular platforms and PC. Nonetheless, it is rumored that Sony is planning its personal Horizon MMORPG for PS5.