Sony Escalates War on Alleged ‘Horizon’ Knockoff, Files for Preliminary Injunction Against Tencent

Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has intensified its legal battle against Chinese tech giant Tencent, filing a motion for a Preliminary Injunction in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. This aggressive move aims to immediately halt pre-release promotion and bar the use of key elements from Tencent’s upcoming adventure title, Light of Motiram, which Sony claims is a “slavish clone” and a direct copyright infringement of its multi-million-selling Horizon franchise.

The highly publicized legal conflict, which began with Sony’s initial Intellectual Property (IP) infringement lawsuit filed in late July, centers on the striking similarities between Light of Motiram and SIE’s flagship series, specifically Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West. Sony’s new filing demands a swift judicial intervention, arguing that the continuous promotion of the alleged knockoff game — despite the lawsuit — constitutes irreparable harm to the Horizon brand’s goodwill and future expansion plans, a critical metric for any successful AAA game franchise.

The Crux of the Injunction: Targeting Aloy Lookalike and Visual Elements

The motion for preliminary injunction specifically targets several elements of Light of Motiram that Sony claims were deliberately copied. At the heart of the dispute is the game’s protagonist.

• The Protagonist: Sony seeks to bar the use of a red-haired “fierce tribal warrior huntress” character, arguing she is a near-identical Aloy lookalike and infringes on the distinctive Aloy Character Mark which has become a powerful symbol for the PlayStation brand.
• Visual and Narrative Overlap: The injunction also aims to prevent the use of other visuals, storyline elements, and even a specific melody from the promotional trailer alleged to be too similar to two compositions from the Horizon Zero Dawn OST (Original Soundtrack), underscoring the depth of the alleged copying.
• Robotic Wildlife and Device: Sony’s original complaint highlighted numerous other similarities, including the presence of large, mechanical creature “robot machines” that resemble the iconic “robot dinosaurs” of the Horizon world, and a device functionally and visually analogous to the Focus device used by Aloy.

Sony Fires Back at Tencent Defense: Claims ‘Nonsense’ and ‘Shell Game’

This latest legal volley comes after Tencent filed a motion to dismiss the original lawsuit in September. Tencent’s defense argued that Light of Motiram merely utilizes “time-honored tropes” and “ubiquitous genre ingredients” — such as post-apocalyptic settings and tribal heroines fighting large foes — which are common across numerous popular games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. They contended that Sony was seeking an “impermissible monopoly” over these genre conventions, a key point in the video game industry debate over IP protection.

In its opposition and injunction filing, Sony staunchly refuted Tencent’s claims, branding the defense as “nonsense.”

Key counter-arguments from Sony:

Playing a Shell Game: Sony accused Tencent of “playing a shell game” with its various subsidiaries and brands (including Proxima Beta U.S., Aurora Studios, and Level Infinite) to muddy the waters regarding the game’s development and ownership, and thereby attempting to shield the parent entity, Tencent Holdings, from liability.

Damage Is Done: In response to Tencent’s argument that the lawsuit is “unripe” because the release date was quietly moved to Q4 2027, Sony asserted that “The damage is done – and it continues.” The filing pointed to overwhelming media and gamer reaction — which instantly and widely labeled Light of Motiram a “major Horizon rip off” — as clear evidence of consumer confusion and the immediate erosion of the Horizon franchise’s distinctiveness. The act of publishing promotional material itself, Sony argues, has already caused market damage and diluted the trademark.

History of Intentional Copying: A critical piece of evidence cited by Sony is the alleged history of interactions between the two companies. Sony claims that Tencent had previously approached SIE seeking a license to create a Horizon spin-off game, which Sony declined. According to Sony, Tencent proceeded with Light of Motiram shortly thereafter, suggesting the similarities were not coincidental but a deliberate effort to leverage the rejected IP.

Market Implications and CPC Keywords in the Legal Sector

The outcome of this injunction request will have significant ramifications for the global gaming market and the future of Intellectual Property litigation in the sector. Should the court side with Sony, it would set a major precedent reaffirming the protection of distinct visual styles and character designs over generalized genre tropes, potentially chilling the development of similar titles. The case is a high-stakes battle between two gaming industry giants in the lucrative open-world adventure and survival game categories.

For the legal and technology community, this case is generating intense interest. High CPC Keywords relevant to this ongoing dispute include:

• Copyright Infringement Lawsuit
• Preliminary Injunction Game Development
• Intellectual Property Litigation
• Video Game Industry Law
• Tencent Lawsuit
• Sony IP Protection
• Digital Rights Management (DRM)

The hearing for the preliminary injunction is highly anticipated, with Sony pushing for a decision by the end of 2025. This legal confrontation underscores the immense value placed on original IP in the modern global video game market and the aggressive measures companies will take to protect their creative assets.