Reuters: Sony sues Tencent for allegedly ripping off 'Horizon' video games
July 28 (Reuters) - Sony Interactive (6758.T), has sued Tencent (0700.HK), for copyright and trademark infringement in California federal court, accusing the Chinese tech conglomerate of ripping off its popular "Horizon" series of adventure video games.
Sony said in a lawsuit filed on Friday that Tencent's upcoming "Light of Motiram" is a "slavish clone" of its games that copies several distinctive "Horizon" elements and threatens to confuse buyers.
Spokespeople for Tencent and attorneys and spokespeople for Sony did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.
Sony released the first game in the "Horizon" series, "Horizon: Zero Dawn," on its PlayStation 4 in 2017. The games follow a red-headed woman named Aloy as she navigates a post-apocalyptic world populated by human tribes and robotic animals.
Sony said in its complaint that it declined an offer from Tencent to collaborate on a new "Horizon" game last year. Tencent later announced "Light of Motiram," which Sony said features identical gameplay, story themes and artistic elements to "Horizon" as well as many other similarities.
Sony said that video game journalists have characterized "Light of Motiram" as a "knock-off" of "Horizon," including one who called the game "Horizon Zero Originality."
Sony asked the court for an unspecified amount of monetary damages and an order blocking Tencent from violating its intellectual property rights.
The case is Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC v. Tencent Holdings Ltd, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No. 3:25-cv-06275.
For Sony: Annette Hurst, Diana Rutowski and Laura Wytsma of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe
For Tencent: attorney information not yet available
UK Citizens Use Death Standing 2 to Bypass Porn Blocks
Those of you living in the UK will be aware of the introduction of a set of "safety measures" which will require you to disclose your identity in order to access adult content. This obviously includes porn sites, but has also rolled out on services like Discord and Reddit.
Not every site implements the security measures in the same way, but some require you to scan your face using a smartphone camera in order to confirm you're of a certain age. It's a potentially dystopian development which raises concerns about all kinds of personal security risks.
While many of the verification companies claim photos won't be stored on their servers, it's perfectly understandable why people wouldn't want to participate in the process at all. So the obvious workaround is to use a VPN of some sort.
But creative Brits have also come up with another solution: scan Norman Reedus' face using Death Stranding 2: On the Beach's photo mode.
A lot of these security checks require you to complete a variety of different poses, like opening and closing your mouth, so the ability to select Reedus' facial expression comes in really handy here. And when you pair that with the overall quality of the character models in Kojima Productions' sequel, it all works a treat.
While we haven't personally tried it for ourselves, we've seen several people mention it on X (or Twitter), and PC Gamer wrote up a first-hand report as well.
We suppose if these safety measures can be so easily bypassed, then it's not massively different to the old "enter your age" verification forms we've all become accustomed to – it just takes a little more effort and nous than saying you were born in 1900 now.
It is pretty funny to think Reedus is about to become the most prolific gooner in the UK, though. He accessed Pornhub how many times in the last 30 minutes?!"
I've been playing AdvanceWars reBoot and bananza. In AW I'm on the last mission of the second game, which is a massochists delight. The CPU is at such an advantage both in sheer numbers, unit offence and defence, terrain,... It's more frustrating than fun really.
As for Bananza, the EG review mentionned how they liked it, but not as much as they would have thought and I think I agree... There's something off about the game that I can't seem to put my finger on. The world doesn't feel alive and I guess this is due to it being voxel based. Nothing moves around save for the occasional enemy. There's no unexpected movement in the distance to trigger your curiosity. Despite the different texture work the whole world seems like one big statue for you to demolish.
It's a consequence if the dev teams choice to focus on the demolition, but I do feel a lot is lost because of it. There's not enough... Charm?
The Sony/Tenecent lawsuit is interesting. Light of Motiram isn't even subtle in how much of a rip-off it is of Horizon. The gameplay might be different, but every design choice was blatantly ripped off. It's like Tenecent opened up chat gpt and said "make us a version of Horizon", but didn't realize just how close it would be.
Due to a change of circumstances in my life I've had no time to play. But I did start Kingdom Come Deliverance and somehow logged 4 hours into it. It's a good narrative driven WRPG. I'm enjoying it.
Here's hoping the change is at least a positive one to soften the blow of curting into your gaming time.
I've been playing AdvanceWars reBoot and bananza. In AW I'm on the last mission of the second game, which is a massochists delight. The CPU is at such an advantage both in sheer numbers, unit offence and defence, terrain,... It's more frustrating than fun really.
As for Bananza, the EG review mentionned how they liked it, but not as much as they would have thought and I think I agree... There's something off about the game that I can't seem to put my finger on. The world doesn't feel alive and I guess this is due to it being voxel based. Nothing moves around save for the occasional enemy. There's no unexpected movement in the distance to trigger your curiosity. Despite the different texture work the whole world seems like one big statue for you to demolish.
It's a consequence if the dev teams choice to focus on the demolition, but I do feel a lot is lost because of it. There's not enough... Charm?
I don't find the world lifeless.
I find the game at its best when its pushing you forward, with intent. Like when you're chasing a boss with rocks crashing around you.
Those Mario like moments leading to something epic. But the game is mostly about exploring by digging, so it mostly just leaves you alone to explore and smash things up.
That's the way the game is designed. It could make a tighter more curated experience like Mario Galaxy or 3D world. But its more Rare like.
Unconfirmed: PlayStation 6 relies on "Orion" chip, Xbox Next uses AMD's "Magnus" APU
28.07.25 - New information about the upcoming console generations from Sony and Microsoft points to concrete hardware codenames and technical specifications. According to recent leaks, the PlayStation 6's processor chip is codenamed Orion, while the upcoming PlayStation portable device is said to be equipped with an APU called Canis.
The details come from the well-known leakers Moore's Law Is Dead and Kepler L2, among others, who are considered well connected in the hardware industry.
In the case of the PlayStation handheld, Canis is now considered confirmed: The chip is based on a monolithic design - i.e. a single silicon unit - which indicates a compact and efficient architecture. For the PlayStation 6, on the other hand, it was initially unclear whether the AMD Magnus chip, which was also leaked, would be used: With the mention of Orion as an associated APU for Sony's next-gen console, Magnus now seems to be assigned to Microsoft's next Xbox generation.
The technical details of the Magnus chip point to a powerful architecture: a GPU unit based on the RDNA-5 platform with a structure width of 3 nanometers, up to 70 compute units (CU) - 68 CU are realistically expected - and a 192-bit memory interface. The latter is classified as comparatively narrow, which is why speculation about a renewed shared storage model at Microsoft's Xbox is arising. Previous generations used this principle to divide the bandwidth between the CPU and GPU.
The specifications have not yet been officially confirmed by Sony or Microsoft; nevertheless, the leaks allow initial conclusions to be drawn about the technological orientation of the next console generations.
Sweet. If following gaming news has thaught me anything you're supposed to now make bad decissions, then fire half the company's staff to spruce up the numbers and grant yourself a huge bonus.
It feels early to be talking about a PS6. Maybe it will have some games that will be exciting to me.
My PS6 lineup prediction: Make a list of all of the PS5 exclusives, and all of the most popular PS4, Xbox, PC games over the last 20 years. Now add "8K UHD: The ultimate ultra-high definition Edition" to the end of each title with a $90 price sticker. There ya go!
Oh and Gran Turismo 8, which I'll pre-order a digital copy. Moo
Thanks all. Not doing a humble brag or anything but I've known you all for years and while I've not told you in real time about death of parents and other stuff like that I figured I'd share this as it's novel.
It's not really a big deal, but maybe I keep thinking that as a coping mechanism.
I donlt have much time for much though, but that's also because my wife took on a job before all this that requires me to drop off and pick up my kid each day, so I'm stretched thin. I've not considered commerical options for the pick up and drop off because I spoil my kid.
So this is interesting. The Steamworld developer, Image and Form, has had a real rough year. I thought they were just a small developer chugging along and releasing small indie Games to a receptive audience, but that's not necessarily the case.
Eight months ago they released a hundred employees. I don't know if the releases were more surprising or just the fact that they were a studio of over a hundred people in the first place. But it seems as they were expanding the SteamWorld universe and scaling up the size of the games, they were growing at a rate they couldn't maintain since The audience growth wasn't there.
I'm not sure of getting bought by Atari is going to be a good thing for either party, but it could be worse. They could have been bought by Microsoft.
July 28 (Reuters) - Sony Interactive (6758.T), has sued Tencent (0700.HK), for copyright and trademark infringement in California federal court, accusing the Chinese tech conglomerate of ripping off its popular "Horizon" series of adventure video games.
Sony said in a lawsuit filed on Friday that Tencent's upcoming "Light of Motiram" is a "slavish clone" of its games that copies several distinctive "Horizon" elements and threatens to confuse buyers.
Spokespeople for Tencent and attorneys and spokespeople for Sony did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.
Sony released the first game in the "Horizon" series, "Horizon: Zero Dawn," on its PlayStation 4 in 2017. The games follow a red-headed woman named Aloy as she navigates a post-apocalyptic world populated by human tribes and robotic animals.
Sony said in its complaint that it declined an offer from Tencent to collaborate on a new "Horizon" game last year. Tencent later announced "Light of Motiram," which Sony said features identical gameplay, story themes and artistic elements to "Horizon" as well as many other similarities.
Sony said that video game journalists have characterized "Light of Motiram" as a "knock-off" of "Horizon," including one who called the game "Horizon Zero Originality."
Sony asked the court for an unspecified amount of monetary damages and an order blocking Tencent from violating its intellectual property rights.
The case is Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC v. Tencent Holdings Ltd, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No. 3:25-cv-06275.
For Sony: Annette Hurst, Diana Rutowski and Laura Wytsma of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe
For Tencent: attorney information not yet available
Those of you living in the UK will be aware of the introduction of a set of "safety measures" which will require you to disclose your identity in order to access adult content. This obviously includes porn sites, but has also rolled out on services like Discord and Reddit.
Not every site implements the security measures in the same way, but some require you to scan your face using a smartphone camera in order to confirm you're of a certain age. It's a potentially dystopian development which raises concerns about all kinds of personal security risks.
While many of the verification companies claim photos won't be stored on their servers, it's perfectly understandable why people wouldn't want to participate in the process at all. So the obvious workaround is to use a VPN of some sort.
But creative Brits have also come up with another solution: scan Norman Reedus' face using Death Stranding 2: On the Beach's photo mode.
A lot of these security checks require you to complete a variety of different poses, like opening and closing your mouth, so the ability to select Reedus' facial expression comes in really handy here. And when you pair that with the overall quality of the character models in Kojima Productions' sequel, it all works a treat.
While we haven't personally tried it for ourselves, we've seen several people mention it on X (or Twitter), and PC Gamer wrote up a first-hand report as well.
We suppose if these safety measures can be so easily bypassed, then it's not massively different to the old "enter your age" verification forms we've all become accustomed to – it just takes a little more effort and nous than saying you were born in 1900 now.
It is pretty funny to think Reedus is about to become the most prolific gooner in the UK, though. He accessed Pornhub how many times in the last 30 minutes?!"
I've been playing AdvanceWars reBoot and bananza. In AW I'm on the last mission of the second game, which is a massochists delight. The CPU is at such an advantage both in sheer numbers, unit offence and defence, terrain,... It's more frustrating than fun really.
As for Bananza, the EG review mentionned how they liked it, but not as much as they would have thought and I think I agree... There's something off about the game that I can't seem to put my finger on. The world doesn't feel alive and I guess this is due to it being voxel based. Nothing moves around save for the occasional enemy. There's no unexpected movement in the distance to trigger your curiosity. Despite the different texture work the whole world seems like one big statue for you to demolish.
It's a consequence if the dev teams choice to focus on the demolition, but I do feel a lot is lost because of it. There's not enough... Charm?
Mario Paint is now on NSO for the Switch 2! Huzzah!
CEO retired. I have been appointed replacement.
I don't find the world lifeless.I find the game at its best when its pushing you forward, with intent. Like when you're chasing a boss with rocks crashing around you.
Those Mario like moments leading to something epic. But the game is mostly about exploring by digging, so it mostly just leaves you alone to explore and smash things up.
That's the way the game is designed. It could make a tighter more curated experience like Mario Galaxy or 3D world. But its more Rare like.
Here's the level, do what you want.
Congrats
And Sony appears to be readying to put games on every platform.
Is anyone now considering being a single platform owner?
How many peeps here had an Xb1 and a PS4?
How many have a PS5 and an Xbox Series console?
If you did are you considering not doing that anymore?
Side question, which Sony or Microsoft games would you like to be ported elsewhere?
28.07.25 - New information about the upcoming console generations from Sony and Microsoft points to concrete hardware codenames and technical specifications. According to recent leaks, the PlayStation 6's processor chip is codenamed Orion, while the upcoming PlayStation portable device is said to be equipped with an APU called Canis.
The details come from the well-known leakers Moore's Law Is Dead and Kepler L2, among others, who are considered well connected in the hardware industry.
In the case of the PlayStation handheld, Canis is now considered confirmed: The chip is based on a monolithic design - i.e. a single silicon unit - which indicates a compact and efficient architecture. For the PlayStation 6, on the other hand, it was initially unclear whether the AMD Magnus chip, which was also leaked, would be used: With the mention of Orion as an associated APU for Sony's next-gen console, Magnus now seems to be assigned to Microsoft's next Xbox generation.
The technical details of the Magnus chip point to a powerful architecture: a GPU unit based on the RDNA-5 platform with a structure width of 3 nanometers, up to 70 compute units (CU) - 68 CU are realistically expected - and a 192-bit memory interface. The latter is classified as comparatively narrow, which is why speculation about a renewed shared storage model at Microsoft's Xbox is arising. Previous generations used this principle to divide the bandwidth between the CPU and GPU.
The specifications have not yet been officially confirmed by Sony or Microsoft; nevertheless, the leaks allow initial conclusions to be drawn about the technological orientation of the next console generations.
That's really cool that one of us is a CEO. Now I can finally say I know a CEO other than the one I actually work for.
Sweet. If following gaming news has thaught me anything you're supposed to now make bad decissions, then fire half the company's staff to spruce up the numbers and grant yourself a huge bonus.
It feels early to be talking about a PS6. Maybe it will have some games that will be exciting to me.
My PS6 lineup prediction: Make a list of all of the PS5 exclusives, and all of the most popular PS4, Xbox, PC games over the last 20 years. Now add "8K UHD: The ultimate ultra-high definition Edition" to the end of each title with a $90 price sticker. There ya go!
Oh and Gran Turismo 8, which I'll pre-order a digital copy. Moo
Hmmm. You may be on to something.
Thanks all. Not doing a humble brag or anything but I've known you all for years and while I've not told you in real time about death of parents and other stuff like that I figured I'd share this as it's novel.
It's not really a big deal, but maybe I keep thinking that as a coping mechanism.
I donlt have much time for much though, but that's also because my wife took on a job before all this that requires me to drop off and pick up my kid each day, so I'm stretched thin. I've not considered commerical options for the pick up and drop off because I spoil my kid.
Anyway I'll surf the wave while I can.
25 minute Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase tomorrow at 6am PT/9am ET. Typical Nintendo waiting until the last minute to announce something.
Anyway, looking forward to seeing this tomorrow.
I want a Metroid release date and a lot of info on third party games.
So this is interesting. The Steamworld developer, Image and Form, has had a real rough year. I thought they were just a small developer chugging along and releasing small indie Games to a receptive audience, but that's not necessarily the case.
Eight months ago they released a hundred employees. I don't know if the releases were more surprising or just the fact that they were a studio of over a hundred people in the first place. But it seems as they were expanding the SteamWorld universe and scaling up the size of the games, they were growing at a rate they couldn't maintain since The audience growth wasn't there.
I'm not sure of getting bought by Atari is going to be a good thing for either party, but it could be worse. They could have been bought by Microsoft.