Tencent Originally Pitched a Horizon Game to Sony

Tencent is currently in legal trouble with Sony over one of its games resembling the Horizon franchise, and it turns out that the Chinese mega-publisher previously pitched an official entry in that series. In November 2024, Tencent announced Light of Motiram, a futuristic survival game featuring robotic creatures named "Mechanimals" that can be tamed and ridden by a red-haired, bow-wielding female protagonist. Fans were quick to notice the similarities to Sony’s Horizon franchise, and this wasn’t lost on Sony itself.

Earlier this week, Sony announced that it would be filing a lawsuit against Tencent for copyright infringement over Light of Motiram, which Sony says is a "slavish clone" of the Horizon games. Sony is seeking statutory damages of up to $150,000 for each infringement, which may include Light of Motiram’s robots being strikingly similar to the ones in Horizon and its main protagonist strongly resembling Aloy. If the lawsuit succeeds, Light of Motiram could be blocked from release, with Tencent being ordered to destroy all related promotional material.

aloy horizon forbidden west and horizon zero dawn background

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By Ediz Guner

Light of Motiram’s connections to Horizon could stretch even further than seemingly copying its premise, art style, and characters. As reported by GameSpot, Sony's legal documents reveal that Tencent and its in-house development studio, Aurora, had previously approached the company in March 2024 to pitch a Horizon mobile GaaS (Games as a Service) spin-off. This new title would have taken Aloy to what remains of Asia at the summons of the mysterious “Orient.”

Tencent Pitched Horizon Mobile Game to Sony in 2024

Concept art for this pitch reportedly features Horizon lead character Aloy standing on the remains of the Great Wall of China, and other details from the would-be game included new tribes “inspired by ethnic minorities,” Eastern-themed aesthetics, and even new "mechanimals" inspired by Eastern mythology, such as a Machine modeled after a mythical Chinese dragon. During its pitch, Tencent stated that it would be looking to capitalize on the Horizon franchise’s popularity in China, and the Aurora development team presented Sony with screenshots of its members playing the Horizon games as a sign of their devotion to the project.

However, Sony ultimately rejected Tencent’s Horizon pitch in April 2024, just a few months before Light of Motiram was announced. Part of Sony’s argument in the newly announced lawsuit is that Light of Motiram features none of the Eastern elements of Tencent’s Horizon pitch, instead choosing to copy the look of the existing Horizon games. According to Sony’s reports, the Horizon series has sold over 32 million units globally since the release of Horizon Zero Dawn back in 2017.