Among the actions noted in the filing are the fact that “there will be no new promotion or public testing of Light of Motiram during the pendency of the Motion for Preliminary Injunction,” and that “the Light of Motiram release will not be moved up to before Q4 2027,” as well as Tencent not being able to “seek expedited discovery in connection” with the motion.

The motion for preliminary injunction is slated to take place on December 17, with Sony’s deadline for filing its response to this motion being January 2, 2026. The main court hearing date on the motions for dismissal as well as for preliminary injunction are both slated to take place on January 29, 2026.

Sony had filed its lawsuit back in July, where it had referred to Light of Motiram as a “slavish clone” of the Horizon games. As part of this initial filing, the company had also confirmed that it was approached by Tencent for a collaboration on a new title in the franchise, but that this was ultimately declined. Sony alleges that Tencent went ahead and kicked off development of Light of Motiram. The console maker’s goal with the lawsuit is to seek monetary damages up to an unspecified amount, as well as a court order to block Tencent from violating the Horizon IP.

In response to this, Tencent had offered up its own statement, calling Sony’s lawsuit an “improper attempt to fence off a well-trodden corner of popular culture.”

“Plaintiff Sony has sued a grab-bag of Tencent companies – and ten unnamed defendants – about the unreleased video game Light of Motiram, alleging that the game copies elements from Sony’s game Horizon Zero Dawn and its spinoffs,” said Tencent about the lawsuit. “At bottom, Sony’s effort is not aimed at fighting off piracy, plagiarism, or any genuine threat to intellectual property.”

“It is an improper attempt to fence off a well-trodden corner of popular culture and declare it Sony’s exclusive domain,” the statement continued. “In Sony’s telling, Horizon Zero Dawn is ‘like no fictional world created before [or] since.’” Tencent calls this claim “startling, because it is flatly contradicted by Sony’s own developers, not to mention the long history of video games featuring the same elements that Sony seeks to monopolize through this lawsuit.”

While Tencent went ahead and referred to other popular media, including The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Biomutant, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, Far Cry Primal and Outer Wilds among many others that make use of similar aesthetics, Sony would fire back with its own statement weighing in at 42 pages in length, where the company would call Tencent’s lengthy statement “nonsense”.

Since the lawsuit, Tencent had also updated the Steam listing for Light of Motiram with brand new art work that removed the potential for comparison with the Horizon franchise.

“Tencent remarkably contends [Sony Interactive Entertainment]’s claims are unripe because—despite having announced and continuously promoted its game for months—Tencent (purportedly) delayed Light of Motiram’s release until 2027 after SIE sued,” wrote Sony in its statement. “This is nonsense. The damage is done—and it continues. SIE has already suffered injury by Tencent promoting its knock-off game, as made clear by the many instances of actual consumer confusion documented in the Complaint that Tencent does not—and cannot—challenge in its motion. The Court can redress past, ongoing, and imminent infringement.”

Further in the document, the company also calls in to question Tencent’s claims that it shouldn’t fall under the jurisdiction of US-based courts, since Tencent Holdings is based out of the Cayman Islands. Sony noted that “this Court has jurisdiction over Tencent Holdings. The multi-billion dollar global conglomerate holds the U.S. trademark registration for the infringing game Light of Motiram and owns the domain registration for the official promotional website where much of the material giving rise tot he lawsuit was performed and distributed to a California and U.S. audience.”

Sony filed its lawsuit against Tencent in California back in July, accusing the company of stealing ideas from the Horizon franchise for upcoming title Light of Motiram. In its lawsuit, Sony called Tencent’s game a “slavish clone” of Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West, and has alleged that the release of Light of Motiram will end up causing consumer confusion.

As part of its filing, Sony also revealed that Tencent had initially approached the company for a collaboration for a new game in the Horizon franchise last year, but that it had declined this. Shortly afterwards, Tencent unveiled Light of Motiram. The goal of the lawsuit for Sony is monetary damages up to an unspecified amount, along with a court order to prevent Tencent from infringing on the Horizon IP.

In response to this lawsuit, Tencent had released its own statement, calling the company out for its “improper attempt to fence off a well-trodden corner of popular culture”.

“Plaintiff Sony has sued a grab-bag of Tencent companies – and ten unnamed defendants – about the unreleased video game Light of Motiram, alleging that the game copies elements from Sony’s game Horizon Zero Dawn and its spinoffs,” said Tencent about the lawsuit. “At bottom, Sony’s effort is not aimed at fighting off piracy, plagiarism, or any genuine threat to intellectual property.”

Tencent also noted other games from throughout the industry that also look similar to the aesthetics presented in Light of Motiram, including Far Cry: Primal, Far Cry: New Dawn, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, among others.

Several days later, it seems Tencent is in the process of reducing the similarities. Its Steam page, once showcasing an Aloy-like figure and robot elephants (seen above), has been updated to remove both. Any mention of “colossal machines” is also gone; however, it’s still set in a world where “civilization is a distant memory”, with “primal cultures” and “extreme weather” that will test one’s survival skills.

Whether this will be enough for Sony to drop its lawsuit remains to be seen. As such, Light of Motiram, developed by Polaris Quest, is out in Q1 2027, and it could distance itself even further. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, the same lawsuit revealed that the Horizon series has sold over 38 million units thus far. Guerrilla Games hasn’t announced a sequel, but it’s allegedly “a ways off.” An online title, reportedly developed with NCSoft, is also seemingly in the works.

Along with giving us a look at the zone in general, the trailer also shows off some of the more unique aspects of gameplay in Light of Motiram. This includes the ability to put on a helmet that allows players to take control one of the many robotic creatures from the game.

In terms of the in-game story, the Outcast Forest has been described by the developers as a woodland area where convicts of the Dariman Tribe are exiled. This means that most of the characters that players encounter in the area will likely be hardened criminals, rather than friendly allies.

Towards the back half of the trailer, we also get glimpses at several of the game’s boss fights against its robot beasts. The boss fights shown in the trailer look like they would be fairly intricate in terms of mechanics that players have to deal with, as well as overall level of challenge.

Back in November, the game was the subject of criticism for how similar it looked to Guerrilla Games’ Horizon franchise. While Light of Motiram does have its own unique features, such as the survival gameplay that includes base-building as well as support for co-op multiplayer, its Mechanimals do bear quite a bit of resemblance to the robotic wildlife we’ve seen from the Horizon games.

Despite these similarities, however, neither Sony nor Guerrilla Games have made any comments about the matter. Both of the companies’ silence likely means that Light of Motiram won’t be seeing any legal action taken against it.

Light of Motiram is currently in development for PC (via Steam and Epic Games Store), PS5, iOS and Android. The game doesn’t yet have a confirmed release date, but it is available to wishlist on online stores. When it comes out later this year, Light of Motiram will be a free-to-play game.

The survival mechanics will play a key role in Light of Motiram, with players needing to gather various materials that they can then use to build up their base and also create new equipment. According to the game’s description, it will make use of realistic physics simulations to power its freeform building system. Players will have quite a bit of freedom in how they build their base, with examples even showing off elaborate tree houses among an otherwise-normal town.

Owing to its emphasis on the ecosystem created by the Mechanimals roaming around its world, Light of Motiram will also allow players to befriend and take control of these mechanical beasts. Through this, players will also have the ability to customise their Mechanimals with new weapons and improvements to other parts.

Light of Motiram also promises seamless online multiplayer, allowing players to jump in and out of each others games without having to worry about matching up their progression. Through co-op, players can take part in every activity together, from partaking in epic hunts to just building out a massive home base together. The game will also support cross-play.

One Reddit thread discusses how the art style and Machines (known as Mechanimals) are a dead ringer for the two, right down to the key art. Light of Motiram does have its fair share of features that Horizon doesn’t, including co-op for up to ten players, base-building, and Mechanimal taming. Combat is also much more hack-and-slash heavy, and there’s even cross-platform play.

However, it’s hard not to see the resemblance between the games. Neither Guerrilla Games nor Sony has commented on the title, and one has to wonder if Light of Motiram could face any legal action. Stay tuned for more details and updates.