Tencent Seeks Dismissal of Sony’s Horizon Copyright Lawsuit

A motion to dismiss the copyright and trademark infringement lawsuit filed by Sony was advanced by Tencent in United States District Court this week. Claims that the game Light of Motiram, developed by Tencent’s subsidiary Polaris Quest, constitutes a copy of PlayStation’s Horizon franchise have been challenged. Both specific trademark identification and factual evidence about infringement were described as lacking in the Sony complaint.

Tencent noted that Horizon’s core elements, such as a red-haired protagonist navigating post-apocalyptic lands overrun by machines, have appeared in earlier titles and are considered widely recognized genre conventions. Examples cited in the court documents include Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Far Cry: Primal, and Biomutant. Sony’s attempts to claim exclusivity over “ubiquitous genre ingredients” were described by Tencent as an effort to monopolize popular video game elements.

In Tencent’s filing, Sony’s attempt to link multiple subsidiaries and unnamed defendants was described as undifferentiated and insufficient for establishing jurisdiction. Since Light of Motiram has not yet been released, it was argued by Tencent that the lawsuit relies too heavily on speculation about the game’s future conduct and presentation. Steam pages for the game have reportedly been revised, with certain Horizon-like images and descriptions removed since legal proceedings began.

Jurisdiction and subject matter authority over served defendants were questioned, in addition to the lack of supporting details for many claims. As a result, dismissal of the case was requested because hypothetical future acts are not subject to judicial review and that Sony’s allegations are not sufficiently supported under copyright law.

The outcome of this filing may set a precedent for how common thematic and visual elements are protected under gaming copyright, especially when games remain unreleased and only share broad genre attributes. The central debate between inspiration and infringement continues to be shaped as the legal process moves forward.