In response to legal action from Sony, Tencent has issued a defense of its upcoming game, Light of Motiram. Sony alleges that the title is a “servile clone” of Horizon Zero Dawn,further suggesting that the playstation company itself had reservations about Horizon Zero Dawn’s similarities to Enslaved: Odyssey to the West.

Tencent references past statements from Horizon Zero Dawn developer Jan-Bart Van Beek, where the artistic director at Guerrilla expressed concern that their concept mirrored Ninja theory’s 2013 game, enslaved: Odyssey to the West, which also features a red-haired protagonist battling robotic creatures.

How Did Tencent Respond to Sony’s Claims of Copyright Infringement?

According to legal documents reported by The Game Post, Tencent characterizes Sony’s actions as overreaching, pointing to other franchises with comparable elements to horizon Zero Dawn, such as The Legend of Zelda and Far Cry. Tencent deems it “surprising” that Sony would now assert the originality of Horizon’s concept, considering its reliance on “omnipresent ingredients of the genre.”

“When demanding for an unreserved project that simply uses the same topics enshrined by time and used by numerous other video games released both before and after Horizon -como Enslaved, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Far Cry: Primal, Far Cry: New Dawn, Outer Wilds, Biomutant, y muchos más- Sony search an unacceptable monopoly on the conventions of the genre, “Wriet Tencent.

“Long before this demand was filed, the developers of Horizon Zero Dawn publicly recognized that the same elements of the game…were actually taken from a previous game.”

Moreover, Tencent contends that Sony’s assertion that Horizon was an original PlayStation concept is “Totally contradicted” by statements made by Van Beek in a behind-the-scenes documentary. Van Beek reportedly stated that Guerrilla briefly halted development on Horizon Zero Dawn due to internal concerns about its similarities to enslaved.

“Mr. Van Beek warns: ‘I don’t think we should do this; these other points touches too much’, referring to prominent enslaved elements. Sony He filed the project, only to reactivate it later with full awareness that the idea was far from being novel.When Horizon Zero Dawn Finaly it was launched in 2017, the players community noted its remarkable similarity with Enslaved and other classic elements of the genre. “

Tencent’s response also seeks to refute other aspects of Sony’s claim, asserting that their work on Light of Motiram was unrelated to a failed pitch meeting with Sony for a Horizon spin-off. Tencent further argues that Sony’s entire claim is invalid due to the company’s misidentification of Tencent entities in its initial complaint.

Despite defending itself against Sony’s legal action, Tencent has seemingly made adjustments to Light of Motiram. A review of the game’s Steam page reveals that screenshots and logos featuring the red-haired protagonist and robotic dinosaurs have been removed. This suggests that Tencent intends to release Light of Motiram without the elements that Sony deems too similar to horizon. it remains to be seen how Sony will respond to these apparent modifications.