Tencent May Have Canceled Its Horizon Zero Dawn Clone

Tencent has seemingly removed its upcoming open-world survival game Light of Motiram from both Steam and the Epic Games Store. This removal from storefronts coincides with the sudden settlement of a legal battle between Tencent and Sony, with the latter party claiming back in July that Light of Motiram was a "slavish clone" of Guerrilla Games' Horizon series.

Announced in November 2024, Light of Motiram was in development at Aurora Game Studio, a French developer working under Polaris Quest, itself a subsidiary of Tencent Games. Alongside a 16-minute gameplay trailer showing off its open-world survival gameplay, Light of Motiram debuted with an official description that mentioned a "world overrun by colossal machines" and "unique Mechanimals." Light of Motiram's announcement was immediately met with criticism from Horizon fans, with many claiming it be almost a carbon copy of the Sony first-party franchise in terms of premise and key visual designs, specifically of its main protagonist and machine enemies.

Sony seemed to agree with the general sentiment surrounding Light of Motiram, as in July of this year it officially filed a lawsuit accusing Tencent of copyright and trademark infringement. Sony posited that Tencent had pitched a Horizon mobile game in March 2024, and that despite the pitch being rejected, Tencent had continued working on the project using Horizon's assets unlawfully as a basis. The legal battle between the two parties has gradually escalated over the last five months, with Tencent agreeing at the start of December that it would pause public tests and promotion of Light of Motiram ahead of a possible court hearing in early 2026.

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By Pam K Ferdinand

Tencent Removes Light of Motiram From Storefronts Following Sony Lawsuit

But just two weeks later, the legal battle between Tencent and Sony seems to have come to an abrupt end. On December 18, a new court filing (first reported on by The Game Post) surfaced confirming that the lawsuit has been dropped following a "confidential settlement of all parties." Given the confidential nature of the settlement, it's unknown if any money has exchanged hands. The case has also been "dismissed with prejudice," meaning that it cannot be revisited by either party at a later date.

Just prior to the appearance of this court filing, Reddit users noticed that Light of Motiram had seemingly been removed from Steam and the Epic Games Store, with links to the former taking players back to the Steam homepage and links to the latter resulting in a 404 page. There's been no official statement from Tencent or Aurora Game Studio regarding this court filing or Light of Motiram's status, though the game's removal from digital storefronts does seem to suggest that the game may have been canceled, or is at least having to undergo major changes.

At the time of writing, Light of Motiram's official website is still live, as are most of the links on its main page. Light of Motiram's X account and YouTube channel are still up, though the former hasn't posted since April 28 and only one video (from January 2025) was ever uploaded to YouTube. Light of Motiram's Discord is also still joinable, with its general chat currently being flooded with messages from fans asking if the game is canceled.

While Light of Motiram could reemerge in the future with a completely different look, it seems a tad unlikely given just how much Aurora Game Studio would need to change. Sony's original lawsuit claimed that Light of Motiram didn't just infringe on Horizon's art style, it had also copied key elements from the series' soundtrack, color palette, and HUD. To avoid any possible legal action in the future, Light of Motiram would need to change vast swathes of its core design, which would likely take significant time and money.

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