Tencent halts Light of Motiram testing and marketing as Horizon copyright lawsuit date set for January

Tencent has agreed to halt all promotion and testing of Light of Motiram as it prepares for a major court case next year.

Sony, which is suing Tencent for its “slavish clone” of the Horizon series, has requested a preliminary injunction, and whilst that waits to be heard in court, Tencent has agreed to hold off public tests and pause the marketing of its upcoming action game, which is slated to release in Q4 2027.

Tencent has also promised not to bring the release window forward until the case has been heard.

Back in July, Sony filed a copyright lawsuit against Tencent. In court papers filed at the time, Sony demanded a jury trial for copyright and trademark infringement and to prevent the “imminent” release of Tencent’s upcoming title, accusing it of “rip[ping] off” Horizon lead Aloy, “deliberatedly causing numerous game lovers to confuse Light of Motiram as the next game in the Horizon series with encountering Tencent’s promotional game play videos and social media accounts.” Shortly thereafter, Tencent made several changes to Light of Motiram’s Steam page and its promotional art.

Then, last month, Tencent disputed Sony’s claims that its upcoming game Light of Motiram is a “slavish clone” of its tentpole Horizon series, claiming the latter is not “fighting off piracy, plagiarism, or any genuine threat to intellectual property” but is instead attempting to “transform ubiquitous genre ingredients into proprietary assets,” insisting Light of Motiram is merely making use of “time-honored” tropes that are outside “Sony’s exclusive domain.”

Most recently, in October, Sony dismissed Tencent’s latest filing over its Horizon Zero Dawn copyright lawsuit as “nonsense,” insisting “the damage is done – and it continues.” It also accused Tencent of trying to copy the “look, sound, characters, and narrative” of Sony’s Horizon franchise, which included hiring Horizon Forbidden West’s composer, and infringing not just Aloy as a character, but as a symbol for Sony’s PlayStation brand.

Now, as reported by The Game Post – which has reviewed a proposed order filed yesterday, December 1 – both Sony and Tencent have “jointly” asked the court to extend the briefing schedule and hear both motions to dismiss and the injunction request next month.

The court papers said: “SIE requested, and the Tencent Entities agreed, that (a) the extended briefing schedule and later requested hearing date will not be used to argue that SIE delayed in seeking a preliminary injunction, (b) there will be no new promotion or public testing of Light of Motiram during the pendency of the Motion for Preliminary Injunction, (c) the Light of Motiram release will not be moved up to before Q4 2027, and (d) the Tencent Entities will not seek expedited discovery in connection with the Motion for Preliminary Injunction.”

We likely won’t see Tencent’s argument against the preliminary injunction until December 17 – a two-week delay – and now Sony has until January 2 to respond. Both parties are set to go to court on January 29, 2026.