If you’ve been keeping up with Light of Motiram, you must be knowing the legal battle between Sony and Tencent Games over the latter’s game. However, things has become even tougher for the Light of Motiram creators as brakes on all the promotions of the title have been applied.
The reason this freeze matters is simple: the next big hearing has been moved to January 29, 2026, and both companies want more time to prepare. All of this is tied directly to Sony’s argument that the game overlaps too closely with the Horizon series, especially in its character styling and world-building.
With this, there will be no new trailers, no fresh promotional pushes, and definitely no public testing. Sony is still asking the court to stop the game from releasing at all unless certain elements are changed, while Tencent is pushing back hard, calling Sony’s claims an attempt to take over storytelling ideas that many games already use.
The issue goes back to July this year, when Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (SIE) filed a complaint against Tencent for copyright and trademark infringement related to the Horizon franchise. The complaint also highlighted public reactions to Tencent’s game, with many calling it “crazy,” “insane,” and “shameless.”
Back in October, The Game Post reported that Tencent tried to get Sony’s approval for a Horizon project, known as Project Z, earlier in 2024. This came after a rejected pitch in which Tencent had approached Sony with an idea for a Horizon game set in Asia.
Discussions reportedly even touched on The Last of Us series as well. When Sony declined, Tencent allegedly went ahead with its own version anyway after the initial reveal was done back in November last year. In the legal filing, Sony includes a side-by-side comparison of promotional art from both franchises.
The images show female protagonists in an almost similar attire, while the Steam store cover art and so many elements of the new title being eerily similar.
Now, the current situation is that Sony asked for a longer briefing schedule, and Tencent agreed as long as it wouldn’t be used against Sony later. Tencent also agreed not to promote or publicly test Light of Motiram while the injunction is being considered, and not to move the game’s release earlier than Q4 2027.
