Latest news with #LightOfMotiram
Metro
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
PlayStation sues Tencent over Horizon ‘clone' Light Of Motiram
A lawsuit by Sony claims Tencent is ripping off Horizon Zero Dawn, after the company originally wanted to make its own game set in Asia. Last November, Chinese conglomerate Tencent announced a brand new survival game for PC called Light Of Motiram; one that you can play with friends as you explore a post-apocalyptic world populated by animal-like machines. The game's announcement quickly went viral, not because it looked any good, but because it looked an awful lot like Sony's Horizon Zero Dawn and its sequel. Even the woman depicted in the key art shared many similarities with Horizon protagonist Aloy. At the time, some wondered if Sony would take umbrage with Light Of Motiram. Turns out the answer to that is yes, as the company has formally filed a lawsuit against Tencent, accusing it of copyright and trademark infringement. According to Reuters the lawsuit explicitly describes Light Of Motiram as a 'slavish clone of Sony Interactive Entertainment's immensely popular, award-winning Horizon series of video games.' Sony even cites the initial public response and comments from gaming news websites as evidence of Tencent copying Horizon developer Guerrilla Games' homework. Interestingly, Sony also mentions that representatives of Tencent and one of its internal developers, Aurora Studios, previously approached the company to pitch a new Horizon game – one that would retain the established open world setting but feature 'Eastern aesthetics', survival mechanics, and multiplayer options (so presumably it would've been set in Asia, rather than the US). Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. They went so far as to share a photo of Aurora Studios' team members playing one of the Horizon games at work alongside screenshots of their PlayStation trophy lists to demonstrate how they were 'diehard fans' of the series. Sony rejected the pitch and is convinced that Tencent has repurposed the idea as Light Of Motiram, except they ditched the planned Eastern aesthetic and instead copied Horizon wholesale. 'The Light Of Motiram Promotional Material reflects that even though Sony Interactive Entertainment rejected Tencent's pitch to create a licensed Horizon Franchise game, Tencent continued to produce a game that makes unauthorized use of Sony Interactive Entertainment's rights in the Horizon Franchise intellectual property,' reads the lawsuit. 'In doing so, Tencent misappropriates many of the most distinctive and recognisable protected elements of the Horizon Franchise, including the franchise's overall tone and feel, setting, narrative, characters, and visual expression, leading to confusion as to source, affiliation, and sponsorship of the Light Of Motiram game.' Elsewhere, Sony also gives away that the Horizons series has sold a collective 38 million units in total. According to the PlayStation Blog, 32.7 million units had been sold as of April 2023, meaning roughly six million more have been sold since then. As a reminder, the only Horizon games to have come out in that time were a PlayStation 5 remaster of the first game and the multiplatform Lego Horizon Adventures spin-off. You can read the whole lawsuit in full for yourself, but ultimately Sony is seeking to block Light Of Motiram from ever been released, plus $150,000 'for each separate work in the Horizon Franchise infringed' in damages and for Tencent to hand over any and all marketing materials so Sony can destroy them. At the time of writing, Tencent has yet to issue any sort of response, so it's unclear if it will comply or if it feels it can win the court case. More Trending This situation is reminiscent of the still ongoing Nintendo/Palworld legal battle. As a reminder, Palworld quickly gained infamy for its obvious similarities to Pokémon, to the point where some suspected developer Pocketpair of using AI to copy multiple pokémon designs for its catchable cartoon animals. Nintendo's lawsuit, however, is based on Pocketpair allegedly infringing on Nintendo's patents for certain game mechanics. Since then, Palworld has had some of its mechanics changed. For instance, Pals are no longer summoned by throwing the equivalent of a pokéball, they just appear next to you. All that said, a report by IP consultant Florian Mueller for GamesFray earlier this month argues that Nintendo isn't guaranteed a clean win. In fact, the company has had one of its patents modified which Mueller believes is a Hail Mary to try and obfuscate the issue. The Light Of Motiram situation is different, though, since Sony isn't accusing Tencent of copying Horizon's mechanics but the entire concept and aesthetic, thus potentially confusing people into thinking it's an official Horizon game. Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Horizon Forbidden West review – robosaurs wrecks MORE: Horizon Call Of The Mountain review – the summit of PSVR2 achievements MORE: Ubisoft lands itself a Tencent bail out worth £1,000,000,000
Geek Culture
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Culture
Tencent Plays Coy About Copying Sony's Aloy
Tencent raised eyebrows late last year when it released the announcement trailer for Light of Motiram , an open-world survival game where humans use primitive technology to combat giant mechanical beasts. Sound familiar? Well, Sony certainly thought so, as the company is now suing the China-based studio over copyright and trademark infringement against its Horizon video game franchise. As reported by Variety, Sony Interactive Entertainment filed a lawsuit on 25 July in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging that Light of Motiram is a 'slavish clone' of the Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West video games and requesting statutory damages of US$150,000 for each separate work in the Horizon franchise infringed. In addition, PlayStation is looking to prevent the game's release, stating that 'Tencent's copying of Horizon is so blatant that the public has described it as 'crazy,' 'insane,' and 'shameless.' Tencent also used its rip-off of the iconic Horizon main character, Aloy, as the centrepiece of its pre-release marketing and promotional strategy, deliberately causing numerous game lovers to confuse Light of Motiram as the next game in the Horizon series when encountering Tencent's promotional gameplay videos and social media accounts.' Horizon Zero Dawn (2017) According to further reports by The Wrap, Sony also stated that Tencent attempted to pitch its own version of Horizon in hopes of sealing a collaboration, and despite Sony rejecting the offer, Tencent moved forward with its plans anyway. Representatives for Tencent did not respond to either Variety or The Wrap's request for comments. From looking at the game's trailer alone, it's easy to see just how similar Light of Motiram is to Sony's popular adventure franchise, as apart from the obvious use of the same core man-versus-machine concepts, the upcoming game also features a post-apocalyptic setting, and a tribal protagonist that wields a bow alongside melee weapons to target specific parts of an enemies body, as well as the ability to ride mechanical horses, 'train' mechanical beasts, and use ariel gliders, making it seem far more than just mere inspiration. Light of Motiram To be fair, Tencent's title does feature unique mechanics that differentiate it from Sony's franchise, such as a focus on crafting structures like what appear to be energy pylons and turrets for base defence, hinting at a strong focus on base building and tower defence, alongside a bigger emphasis on multiplayer co-op gameplay. Still, the similarities between the two games are just too obvious for Sony to ignore, and only time will tell how the lawsuit plays out, and if there's trouble on Light of Motiram's horizon. Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise 'duds' like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3 . He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying. Horizon Zero Dawn Light of Motiram PlayStation Sony tencent
The Verge
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Verge
Sony calls Tencent game ‘slavish clone' of Horizon in new lawsuit
Sony is suing Tencent to attempt to stop the release of Light of Motiram, which Sony describes as a 'slavish clone' of its Horizon series of games, as reported by Reuters. Light of Motiram was announced last year with a trailer featuring an aesthetic that's quite similar to the Horizon franchise — including huge robot animals and even a title font that resembles the Horizon games. In its complaint, Sony alleges that 'unlawful copying of the protected audiovisual elements of the Horizon games, as well as its deliberate adoption of a confusingly similar character mark, constitutes both copyright and trademark infringement that should be enjoined immediately.' According to the lawsuit, Tencent started developing Light of Motiram in 2023. At the Game Developers Conference in March 2024, Tencent allegedly pitched Sony on a proposal that would have its Aurora Studios subsidiary 'develop a Horizon sequel game under the requested license,' which Sony rejected. 'Apparently, Tencent was undeterred by SIE's refusal to license its Horizon intellectual property,' Sony says. According to the game's Steam page, Light of Motiram's developer and publisher is Polaris Quest. In the lawsuit, Sony alleges that 'Upon information and belief, Tencent Shanghai does business under the names 'Aurora Studios' and/or 'Polaris Quest.'' Sony says that it 'had discussions with Tencent' to informally try to 'resolve its concern that Light of Motiram violated its intellectual property rights.' However, Sony alleges that Tencent 'again sought to license the Horizon intellectual property,' to which it 'communicated clearly and unequivocally that it would not license the Horizon assets to Tencent, objected to Light of Motiram, and insisted that it be withdrawn.' Tencent didn't reply to a request for comment. This isn't the only high-profile lawsuit over allegedly similar video games. Last year, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Palworld-developer Pocketpair. Pocketpair said in May that it had to remove features from the game due to the lawsuit. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Jay Peters Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Gaming Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All News Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All PlayStation Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Sony Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Tech
