Sony sues Tencent for allegedly ripping off 'Horizon' games

Sony PlayStation has sued Tencent for copyright and trademark infringement in California federal court, accusing the Chinese tech conglomerate of ripping off its popular ‘Horizon’ series of adventure video games.

Sony PlayStation said in a lawsuit filed on Friday that Tencent’s upcoming ‘Light of Motiram’ is a “slavish clone” of its games that copies several distinctive ‘Horizon’ elements and threatens to confuse buyers.

Spokespeople for Tencent and attorneys and spokespeople for Sony PlayStation did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.

Sony released the first game in the ‘Horizon’ series, ‘Horizon: Zero Dawn,’ on its PlayStation 4 in 2017.

The games follow a red-headed woman named Aloy as she navigates a post-apocalyptic world populated by human tribes and robotic animals.

Sony said in its complaint that it declined an offer from Tencent to collaborate on a new ‘Horizon’ game last year. Tencent later announced ‘Light of Motiram,’ which Sony said features identical gameplay, story themes and artistic elements to ‘Horizon’ as well as many other similarities.

Sony said that video game journalists have characterised ‘Light of Motiram’ as a “knock-off” of ‘Horizon,’ including one who called the game “Horizon Zero Originality.”

Sony PlayStation asked the court for an unspecified amount of monetary damages and an order blocking Tencent from violating its intellectual property rights.

The case is Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC v. Tencent Holdings Ltd, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No. 3:25-cv-06275.

For Sony: Annette Hurst, Diana Rutowski and Laura Wytsma of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe

For Tencent: attorney information not yet available