Tencent has agreed to stop all promotion and testing of Light of Motiram as it prepares for a major court case next year.
Sony, which is suing Tencent over its “slave clone” Horizon series, has asked for a preliminary injunction, and while it awaits a court hearing, Tencent has agreed to delay public testing and pause marketing of its upcoming action game, scheduled for release in the fourth quarter of 2027.
Tencent also promised not to delay the release until the case is resolved.
Back in July Sony files copyright infringement lawsuit against Tencent. In court documents filed at the time, Sony asked for a jury trial for copyright and trademark infringement and to prevent the “imminent” release of Tencent's upcoming game, accusing it of “breaking up.”[ping] “Horizon is headed by Aloy,” “deliberately causing many game fans to confuse Light of Motiram as the next game in the Horizon series with Tencent's promotional videos and social media accounts.” Tencent has made several changes to the Light of Motiram Steam page. and his advertising art.
Then, last month, Tencent disputed Sony's claims that its upcoming game Light of Motiram – “slave clone” of its popular Horizon series, claiming that the latter does not “combat piracy, plagiarism or any credible intellectual property threat” but instead attempts to “transform ubiquitous genre ingredients into its own assets”, insisting that Light of Motiram is simply tapping into “time-tested” stereotypes that are outside Sony's “exclusive sphere”.
Just recently, in October, Sony has called Tencent's latest Horizon Zero Dawn copyright claim “nonsense.” insisting that “the damage has already been done—and it’s still ongoing.” He also accused Tencent of attempting to copy the “look, sound, characters and storytelling” of the Sony Horizon franchise, including hiring the composer for Horizon Forbidden West, and of infringing not only Aloy as a character, but also as a symbol of the Sony PlayStation brand.
Now, as reported Game post — which was considering a proposed order filed yesterday, December 1 — both Sony and Tencent “jointly” asked the court to extend the briefing schedule and hear both the motions to dismiss and the motion for injunctive relief next month.
The court documents state: “SIE has requested, and the Tencent Companies have agreed, that (a) the extended briefing schedule and later requested hearing date will not be used to justify SIE delaying the issuance of the preliminary injunction, (b) there will be no new promotion or public testing of Light of Motiram while the motion for preliminary injunction is pending, (c) the release of Light of Motiram will not be delayed until the fourth quarter of 2027, and (d) the Tencent Companies will not seek expedited discovery in connection with the motion for preliminary injunction.”
We likely won't see Tencent's arguments against the preliminary injunction until December 17 (a two-week delay), and Sony now has until January 2 to respond. Both sides plan to go to court on January 29, 2026.
