Tencent defends itself in ongoing Sony lawsuit over its alleged Horizon rip-off

Tencent has responded to Sony’s lawsuit that accused the Chinese tech giant of creating a "slavish clone" of its Horizon series with its upcoming title Light of Motiram, stating that Sony’s claims are “startling.”

The details:

• Earlier this year, Sony filed a lawsuit against Tencent regarding Light of Motiram, an upcoming adventure title that immediately drew a lot of comparisons to its Horizon franchise. It was noted that both games not only feature similar visuals but also a similar premise involving robotic creatures. Sony then shared that Tencent had attempted to pitch a new Horizon game on several occasions but, despite being denied the IP, went on to create Light of Motiram, which the PlayStation manufacturer labelled a rip-off.
• Months later, Tencent has officially responded to the situation (via The Game Post) in an attempt to defend itself, accusing Sony of contradicting itself. "At bottom, Sony's effort is not aimed at fighting off piracy, plagiarism, or any genuine threat to intellectual property," Tencent said. “It is an improper attempt to fence off a well-trodden corner of popular culture and declare it Sony's exclusive domain.”
• It noted that Sony had claimed that Horizon was "like no fictional world created before [or] since," which Tencent says was "flatly contradicted" by the franchise's developer, Guerrilla Games, in a documentary where its art director said that 2013's Enslaved: Odyssey to the West had a similar premise. “That claim is startling, because it is flatly contradicted by Sony’s own developers, not to mention the long history of video games featuring the same elements that Sony seeks to monopolize through this lawsuit.”
• Tencent has also addressed its meeting with Sony in 2024, stating that no executives or employees from Tencent Holdings were present at the meeting and that nothing was shown that could be considered “an act of copyright or trademark infringement.”

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