Flashspoter - The top global gaming industry news from the past week is mainly focused on the major event of the crucial shift of the poker fight of Sony Interactive Entertainment and Tencent to the Light of Motiram game project. The conflict, as a result of which Tencent decided to halt the promotion and public testing of the game, is apparently entering a new phase after the parties announced that legal proceedings are still ongoing. Several international media outlets such as Thegamepost, Engadget, Polygon, and Deadline spread the news of the move and also reported that the companies are going to meet to discuss their next hearing in early 2025.
Root cause: similarities to Horizon Zero Dawn
Sony sued Tencent after it judged that Light of Motiram bore significant similarities to the Horizon franchise, specifically Horizon Zero Dawn. Sony considered that the character design, visual style, and marketing materials of the game could cause confusion for consumers. In court documents, Sony also stated that Tencent used elements very similar to Horizon's iconic character, Aloy, especially in the design of the main character of early versions of Light of Motiram.
In addition, Sony claims that Tencent once submitted a proposal to create a Horizon-themed collaborative project in 2024, but Sony rejected the offer. Some of the concepts that appeared in the proposal, according to Sony, were later seen again in Light of Motiram, including survival elements and fauna-shaped robot designs.
Tencent's move: remove marketing materials and change the look of the Game
In response to legal pressure, Tencent made a number of significant changes to Light of Motiram's public materials. Digital store pages like Steam have changed almost the entire main visual of the game. The initial Trailer was removed, while the character illustrations were replaced with digital representations of creatures. There were some old screenshots showing Horizon-style designs which were also taken down.
Additionally, the game description was changed to be more generic and it no longer references the fighting of robots in the fashion of ancient animals, which was previously used to highlight the similarity. The main point of the advertising story is now more about survival, base building, and the discovery of the nature of the wild.
Tencent also made a request to drop the lawsuit, but the court case is still happening until today. The two companies have decided to have the day of Sony's suspension request and Tencent's cancellation request talked over together, which is looking forward to January 2025.
Legal risks and potential impact
Sony is demanding compensation of up to US$150,000 for any work in the Horizon franchise that is deemed infringed. In addition, Sony asked the court to permanently ban the release of Light of Motiram if it is found to violate copyright and trademarks.
This case would matter a lot if it was true that Tencent was one of the biggest gaming companies globally. Riot Games, Supercell, Funcom, Epic Games, Ubisoft, Activision Blizzard, and Larian Studios are all either fully owned or partially owned by Tencent. The case's verdict and result might become a landmark for the whole gaming industry regarding the protection of intellectual property, especially the creative collaboration between Chinese and Japanese companies.
Current Status of light of Motiram
Even after stopping the promotion and public testing, Light of Motiram is still available in a few revised visual materials on Steam and other platforms. The Game will be released in 2027 according to the new schedule, which is after the initial planned date. Tencent still has the option of altering gameplay elements if they want to keep the final product safe from any kind of IP violation.
Gamers and game lovers will certainly really enjoy the entertainment and thrill of adventure that both games offer. But in terms of creativity, sportivity, originality in a work of art, including video games, must still be upheld so that the industry continues to develop healthily and respect copyright.
Source TheGamePost, Engadget, Polygon, Deadline
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