Tencent is preventing again after being sued by Sony for allegedly cloning the PlayStation maker’s in style Horizon sequence.
The Chinese language conglomerate has filed a movement to dismiss the lawsuit, through which Sony described Gentle of Motiram—an upcoming survival title developed by Tencent subsidiary Polaris Quest—as a “blatant” and “illegal” copy of Horizon.
In consequence, Sony claims Tencent has dedicated copyright and trademark infringement. Maybe unsurprisingly, Tencent disagrees.
In a movement to dismiss filed in the USA District Courtroom Northern District of California on September 17, 2025 (by way of Courtroom Listener), Tencent mentioned Sony’s lawsuit incorporates “undifferentiated, obscure allegations” and claimed the Japanese agency has didn’t “determine with specificity the trademark that allegedly was infringed.”
As well as, Tencent mentioned Sony’s lawsuit is “based mostly virtually completely on hypothesis concerning future conduct.” As such, Tencent claimed Sony has didn’t allege details that will justify exercising private jurisdiction over Tencent Holdings, which is a overseas firm included within the Cayman Islands and headquartered in China. It recommended that alone is ample grounds to dismiss all of Sony’s claims.
“Plaintiff Sony has sued a grab-bag of Tencent firms—and ten unnamed defendants— in regards to the unreleased online game Gentle of Motiram, alleging that the sport copies components from Sony’s sport Horizon Zero Daybreak and its spinoffs,” reads the submitting.
“At backside, Sony’s effort just isn’t aimed toward preventing off piracy, plagiarism, or any real menace to mental property. It’s an improper try and fence off a well-trodden nook of in style tradition and declare it Sony’s unique area.”
Tencent claims Sony is making an attempt to rework ‘ubiquitous style components into proprietary belongings’
Tencent described Sony’s try and model Horizon as being not like any “fictional world created earlier than [or] since” as a “startling” bid to monopolize in style online game components.
“Lengthy earlier than this lawsuit was filed, the builders of Horizon Zero Daybreak publicly acknowledged that the exact same sport components that, at this time, Sony claims to personal completely, had been actually borrowed from an earlier sport,” added Tencent.
“In a behind-the-scenes documentary, the artwork director for Horizon Zero Daybreak, Jan-Bart Van Beek, defined that the sport’s core conceit—an intrepid, red- haired girl navigating the ruins of a shattered civilization overrun by robotic beasts—had already been executed by a special online game studio within the 2013 title Enslaved: Odyssey to the West.”
Tencent mentioned Sony has “tellingly” ignored the above details in an effort to rework “ubiquitous style components into proprietary belongings.”
“By suing over an unreleased undertaking that merely employs the identical time-honored tropes embraced by scores of different video games launched each earlier than and after Horizon—like Enslaved, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Far Cry: Primal, Far Cry: New Daybreak, Outer Wilds, Biomutant, and lots of extra—Sony seeks an impermissible monopoly on style conventions,” provides Tencent.
In conclusion, Tencent asserts the lawsuit filed by Sony consists “virtually completely of speculative allegations” associated to attainable future conduct and ought to be dismissed consequently.
“These allegations of hypothetical future involvement in preparations for a forthcoming beta take a look at and eventual sport launch—and obscure allegations of unspecified ‘present’ involvement in the identical—are inadequate to help the train of subject material jurisdiction.”
“The Courtroom subsequently lacks jurisdiction to resolve the claims in opposition to the Served Defendants (even when they had been adequately pled, which they don’t seem to be, see supra III.B.) and will dismiss them on this unbiased foundation.”
You’ll be able to learn the complete doc on Courtroom Listener.
