Last summer, Sony filed a lawsuit against Tencent over Light of Motiram, a game that the former alleges is a “slavish clone” of the Horizon franchise. Now, the two sides have apparently struck a temporary deal ahead of an important court hearing that may determine whether the case goes forward.
As reported by The Game Post, a new filing in court acknowledges that Sony and Tencent have been “engaged in discussions in order to resolve the current dispute.” Most notably, Tencent asked for more time to respond to the motion for an injunction, and Sony agreed in exchange for certain concessions. The terms call for Tencent to pause all public promotion or testing for Light of Motiram while also agreeing not to argue in court that Sony delayed its request for emergency relief by granting the extension.
The filing also notes an agreement between the two sides that Tencent won’t ask for expedited discovery in connection with the preliminary injunction against Light of Motiram. It also calls for Tencent to hold the game to its Q4 2027 release window rather than moving it up. Finally, the court document revealed another area where Tencent and Sony see eye-to-eye. The two sides jointly requested that a hearing for Tencent’s motion to dismiss and a second hearing held for Sony’s injunction request be held on the same day: January 29, 2026.
At the heart of Sony’s case is an accusation that Tencent intentionally tried to confuse players by passing Light of Motiram off as a Horizon-related game. Prior to the legal fireworks, Tencent apparently pitched Sony a Horizon game that was set in Asia, which was ultimately turned down. Once the lawsuit was filed, Tencent pulled the Horizon-like imagery from the game’s Steam page. In court, Tencent claimed that Sony’s lawsuit was an attempt to get a monopoly on games similar to Horizon.
Tencent also argued that it wasn’t liable for any damages because any previous discussions about a Horizon game or even the development of Light of Motiram were done by subsidies owned or partially owned by Tencent. In response, Sony accused Tencent of playing a legal shell game to avoid the repercussions of infringing on its intellectual property.
As these legal maneuvers played out, Sony and NCSoft announced a new MMORPG called Horizon Steel Frontiers, which will be coming to mobile platforms and PC. However, it’s rumored that Sony is planning its own Horizon MMORPG for PS5.