Sony and Tencent's legal battle over Light of Motiram, an alleged "slavish clone" of Horizon developed and published by the latter, is done. The two have reached an out-of-court settlement, and the game is no longer available on Steam or the Epic Games Store.
Back in July, Sony took Tencent to court to stop Light of Motiram from being released. The game, an open-world adventure featuring a female protagonist in a post-apocalyptic landscape populated by biomechanical animals, was alleged to resemble Sony's hugely successful Horizon games closely. So much so, the PlayStation maker believed it infringed on the copyright, as the company's case states.
Tencent attempted to file for dismissal, arguing "fame does not create a trademark" and that Sony was trying to "monopolize" certain well-trodden ideas within the video game space. It transpired that meetings were held between the two parties for something Horizon-related that ultimately fell through, and it seemed their contentious back-and-forth would continue, but now they've come to an agreement.
A new court document shows Sony has withdrawn the claim, and the suit is "dismissed with prejudice." In other words, it can't be reopened or re-litigated at a later date. A representative for Tencent confirmed to The Verge that an agreement has been reached.
"SIE and Tencent are pleased to have reached a confidential resolution and will have no further public comment on this matter," Sean Durkin, head of communications for Tencent Americas, said. "SIE and Tencent look forward to working together in the future."
Light of Motiram has since been removed from Steam and the Epic Games Store. The project's fate is unclear, however, as the official site and related social media channels remain up, without updates since Sony began proceedings.
