Horizon Zero Dawn 'clone' being sued by PlayStation

Sony is planning to sue Chinese tech giant Tencent for allegedly copying Horizon.

Originally released in 2017 on the PlayStation 4, Horizon Zero Dawn became one of the best games of its generation.

Many years in the future, mechanical beasts are ravaging our world, and if that wasn't bad enough, an apocalypse is on the horizon (pun intended).

Thankfully, for us at least, we have Aloy, a tribal outcast who, despite being treated by many as scum, is a kind-hearted soul willing to sacrifice herself so that we can all live another day. What a star she is.

In 2022, Aloy’s mission to save the world continued in Horizon Forbidden West, and now, fans of the series will be looking forward to the next mainline entry, whether that’s on the PlayStation 5 or PlayStation 6.

However, before the third game in the series arrives, we were set to get another game that, let’s say, is very much inspired by Sony and Guerrilla Games' Horizon series.

Earlier this year, a new online RPG was announced in the form of Light of Motiram, developed and published by Polaris Quest, a studio owned by the aforementioned Tencent.

In a nutshell, at least visually, Light of Motiram looks like a Horizon imitation, much like what Palworld is to Pokémon, which led to a nasty legal battle between Nintendo and Pocketpair, with the Super Mario property owner claiming that its IP had been violated.

While Palworld still exists, the developer was unfortunately forced to make some questionable gameplay and visual adjustments to ensure that Nintendo wouldn't eradicate the game from existence.

Did Palworld rip off Pokémon? Perhaps, but very few things in life are truly original and pretty much everything is inspired by something, and Pokémon is no exception.

Case and point, just look at how Nintendo used Dragon Quest as its Pokémon inspiration. The term “the pot calling the kettle black” comes to mind.

Now, as reported by Push Square (as per Reuters), whether you agree with it or not, it looks like Polaris Quest may find itself in a similar situation to Pocketpair.

In a statement obtained by Reuters, Sony claimed that Polaris Quest’s Light of Motiram is a “blatant”, “shameless” and “slavish” Horizon clone.

What’s more, GameSpot reports that Tencent had reportedly approached Sony with a pitch to license the Horizon IP, which Sony rejected, which adds further fuel to the speculative fire.

The lawsuit from Sony demands $150,000 in damages with the company wanting all of the Light of Motiram’s assets to be destroyed. Ouch!

There’s a gameplay video for Light of Motiram on YouTube, and while in terms of gameplay it looks like a typical online survival RPG, the Horizon comparisons cannot be denied.

In the gameplay presentation, there are even a couple of its creatures in the video that look strikingly similar to a Shell-Walker and Frostclaw.

I doubt it will be the last we’ll hear of this story - and, of course, we’ll update you when we learn more.