Sony has filed a lawsuit against Tencent over the Horizon franchise.

Sony Interactive Entertainment has filed a lawsuit against Tencent over its upcoming game Light of Motiram, with Sony saying it is a “slavish clone” of the Horizon series.

  • Not_mikey@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    6210·
    2 days ago

    It does look like a clone, but fuck IP law. Sony winning this will only hurt games because any publisher with a genre creating / defining game could gatekeep any competitors from coming in *cough Nintendo.

    The original horizon came out 8 years ago, that’s plenty of time for them to cash in on the monopoly they get for all the creativity that went into creating the genre / style.

    Its not like they’re marketing it with a similar name or main character or any other identifier that could trick someone into buying it instead either.

    • 🔍🦘🛎@lemmy.worldEnglish
      121·
      2 days ago

      Eh this lawsuit actually sounds like it has grounds… Tencent asked to make a spinoff, got rejected, then made it anyway.

      Sony states that during the pitch meeting, Tencent did not disclose it was already working on Light of Motiram. According to the lawsuit, Sony rejected Tencent’s Horizon pitch in April 2024, stating that while it “greatly appreciated Aurora’s level of passion and the effort put into the pitch,” it would not be pursuing the partnership.

      When Tencent did announce Light of Motiram in November 2024, Sony states in the lawsuit that its gameplay trailer did not feature any of the “Eastern-inspired clothing, aesthetics, and backdrops that Tencent pitched and instead copied Horizon whole cloth.”