Submitted 3 weeks ago by simple@piefed.social to games@lemmy.world
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/sony-sues-tencent-over-horizon-lookalike/1100-6533493/
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.
SIE further alleged that Tencent came to the company with a pitch to license the Horizon IP, to which SIE declined.
This seems very relevant to the lawsuit.
What did they do, decide to develop a Horizon game in-house, then ask for permission retroactively, and then release it anyway when Sony didn’t agree?
That sounds like exactly what they dod
Not as relevant as you would think, and actually somewhat common in the industry; Warcraft (the RTS) was developed ahead of asking for a license for the Warhammer franchise. When that deal fell through, it was rejigged to be its own thing and published.
I think the key here is that it’s completely identical. It’s virtually the same product if you told me it was another game set in the same universe I would have believed you.
When you rejig something you have to change it enough that it’s distinct, I’m not convinced they changed literally anything.
Would not be the first time, although usually developers then go out of their way to make things more legally distinct.
Off the top of my head, the PS1 game Croc was reportedly originally pitched to Nintendo as a 3D platformer starring Yoshi (it was made by some of the team behind StarFox). They obviously reworked it a ton before it released as what it ended up as.
Starcraft is Warhammer 40k. Terrans are space marines. Protoss are Eldar. Zerg are Tyranids. Been happening a long time now
There is also evidence that an out of court settlement happened between those companies. Notably moving away from cerebrates in SC2.
Doom started out as an Aliens game. Though they pivoted away from that to retain more creative freedom.
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.
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.”
You already lost bud pal world lost the case to use checks notes creatures that can glide?
I went to the game’s website to see how they portrayed the game as opposed to taking whatever cherry-picked similarities Sony chose to use as their argument.
Wow. It is fucking identical. Maybe the gameplay is different, but the art is indistinguishable.
The hit of gameplay in trailer looks like a near copy of monster hunter games to me.
Horizon is such wasted potential. 2 games in 8 years, and a LEGO spinoff. Where is Horizon 3? Where is Horizon Warriors? Where is the Horizon RPG?
Yeah I don’t have the greatest love for Sony but they have a really good point with this.
It’s basically the same game; Robot animals have taken over the world, because reasons, Humans survive in small groups and have reverted to some kind of native american inspired spirituality for some reason, you play as hyper athletic female warrior type who has to fight said robot animal things, your mission is to acquire some long lost secret technology from before the world was taken over by animals.
They’re not robot dinosaurs, they’re legally distinct robot mammals.
Horizon: Temu Dawn
Horizon: Forbidden Wish.com
Horizon: Aliexpress West
SIE further alleged that Tencent came to the company with a pitch to license the Horizon IP, to which SIE declined.
If sony has physical proof of this, Tencent is fucked and this game will never be released
Yeah this seems like a smoking gun of intent to reproduce the IP. Hard to claim it was done in ignorance if Sony has documentation on this licencisng pitch.
A Chinese company doing what Chinese companies do best. I fully expect this game to be released and it will take a bite out of Horizons sales numbers.
it will take a bite out of Horizons sales numbers.
Press X to doubt
With the focus on PC and Mobile in China, the big console franchises don’t strike me as super popular over there (based on nothing but feelings).
A Chinese company doing what Chinese companies do best.
“The word ‘copyright infringement’ doesn’t translate very well into mandarin”
Yeah, I gotta go with Sony on this and holy shit that is horizon dawn all the way!
Same:
Different:
I low key would want to play through this in an any% kind of way. Just to see if it’s fun. But the battle sequences did not sell this well, I have to say.
Good luck to all.
Do they have a case? As long as Tencent isn’t actively copying Horizon beyond an aesthetic, are they infringing on anything?
The key is whether or not someone would confuse one franchise for another based on the aesthetics. People were losing their minds over Palworld being a ripoff of Pokemon when it first released.
I could see it going either way. IP law is a mess.
There is the additional case that apparently $0.10 wants to licence the IP. (Autocorrect has just changed the name to a price, and I’m inclined to leave it because it’s funny)
It sounds like what happened here is they developed the game and then approached Sony for the licence assuming they were going to get it (which is a bizarre thing to do because Sony were never going to give them a licence, anyone who knows anything about how Sony operate knows that)
They asked for the IP to horizon when making it and made a “different” game when told no
There’s got to be irony somewhere in Sony striking a deal with Palworld, then suing another company for copying the art of their game.
Is the art of Palworld similar to Pokémon?
There are some monster designs that are very similar to Pokemon, but FWIW Pokemon has a lot of simple designs inspired by real animals anyway.
A game does not sell just because of art or the IP. So I like that there is competition. Would suck for Sony if the copy had better code quality, a better story, more content than their games at half the price.
I think it’s proven fact that things often sell off of the art and IP, sometimes for those alone. If that wasn’t the case they wouldn’t fight so hard to protect it.
Oh they obviously make more money out of those IP than they invest. And some IP’s are rather good. However, suing competition also means the market is so small, it is worth fighting them on the legal path, which actually proves my point.
Counterpoint: the janky-ass Pokémon games that suck and still print money.
Same for Assassin’s Creed, Black Ops, etc. It does not mean they get bought because they are good. It means there is nothing else to play. For Pokémon there is actually a good example how to create this healthy competition - it is called Palworld.
I saw the trailer for that game and laughed my ass off, i legit thought it was a horizon DLC and when I realized it wasn’t, I couldn’t get past the obvious fact that it’s a straight ripoff that barely changed anything
Yessss pls damage each other
Uhh the game looks awesome from what the trailer shows. I want to play it, and I’m already hyped for it. The combat also looks better than what it was in Horizon 1.
I honestly don’t care if they just copy games like this. I’m too tired of awesome concepts & IPs being completely misused & wasted by game publishers.
I’m hoping Tencent wins this one, because I wanna play the game. If they do win, I bet “Monster Hunter x Horizon + conventionally attractive characters” would sell like hotcakes.
if they dont’t market it as something related to horizon then what’s the issue? we have millions of clones of various games with different graphics, and so what?
Heh, remember when everyone was playing Breath of the Wild aka Genshin Impact?
imagine spending all that dev time to just get shredded. bruh
and a nolan north style ghost to boot
simple@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
Sony aren't kidding, that trailer literally looks like Horizon down to the small details. It's not even funny.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
It’s actually very funny.
thoon@feddit.nl 3 weeks ago
Wadya expect from China?
ghen@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
It even has the red grass to hide in.
RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Seriously, it looks like they took a slightly different build of the game and pasted a new face on Aloy, amd added a few animals. Doesn’t the last one even have hanggliding?
bitjunkie@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
It’s not a hang glider exactly but like an energy field parachute thing, but yes slow falling is a mechanic they introduced in the second one
But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Horizon 1 was excellent, part 2 was too much. Kinda like Jedi survivor, we went from a somewhat small game to one 10x the size. I couldn’t even finish it
But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I thought it was a horizon dlc first time i saw it