According to Engadget, Sony Interactive Entertainment and Tencent have reached a confidential settlement in their copyright lawsuit, leading to the case’s dismissal. The lawsuit, originally filed by Sony in July 2025, accused Tencent’s game *Light of Motiram* of being a “slavish clone” of the Horizon series, including *Zero Dawn*, *Forbidden West*, and even *Lego Horizon Adventures*. By early October 2025, Tencent had already agreed to stop promoting and publicly testing the game. Now, with the settlement finalized, *Light of Motiram* has vanished from major digital storefronts like Steam and the Epic Games Store. Both companies have stated they are “pleased to have reached a confidential resolution” and will offer no further public comment.
What a quiet ending really means
So, that’s it? A massive, public accusation of a “slavish clone” between two gaming giants just… fades to black with a confidential settlement. It’s actually a pretty classic move, especially when you’re dealing with a fast-moving industry and a potentially drawn-out, expensive court fight. Tencent gets to avoid a messy public trial and a possible devastating loss, and Sony gets the offending game scrubbed from the internet without having to prove every last detail in court. It’s a clean, if unsatisfying, conclusion for everyone except the gamers who might’ve been curious about the clone.
The bigger picture on “cloning”
Here’s the thing: this case was unusually blunt. Sony didn’t just hint at similarities; its legal filing was a detailed, point-by-point takedown of everything from the post-apocalyptic setting with robot animals to the character designs and even the marketing vibe. It was a line in the sand. But it makes you wonder, where is that line between “inspiration” and “infringement” in game design? We see genres explode with lookalikes all the time—how many hero shooters or battle royales can you count? This settlement, though, suggests that when the copying is this brazen and crosses into specific, protectable artistic expression, the big players have the legal muscle to shut it down fast. It’s a warning shot, but probably only to other companies with deep pockets.
What this says about Tencent’s strategy
Now, Tencent backing down so completely is fascinating. This is a company that invests in or owns a huge chunk of the global games industry. They have the resources to fight. But they also have a ton of other irons in the fire and major partnerships to consider. Getting into a nasty, high-profile intellectual property war with Sony—a company they might need to work with on other projects—is just bad business. Pulling the game and settling looks like a pragmatic, if slightly embarrassing, retreat. It signals that even for a titan like Tencent, directly cloning a flagship AAA franchise from another titan is a bridge too far. The real innovation, or let’s be honest, the successful market analysis, needs to be a bit more clever than that.
