Tencent May Have Canceled Its Horizon Zero Dawn Clone

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Tencent has taken its new open-world game, Light of Motiram, off of both Steam and the Epic Games Store. This happened shortly after Tencent reached a legal settlement with Sony. Sony had previously accused Light of Motiram of being a close copy of their Horizon game series back in July.

Revealed in November 2024, Light of Motiram is a game created by Aurora Game Studio, a French team working with Tencent Games. A 16-minute gameplay video showcased the game’s open-world survival elements, and the official description highlighted a world filled with massive machines and unusual creatures called “Mechanimals.” However, the announcement quickly drew criticism from fans of the Horizon series, who felt Light of Motiram closely resembled the Sony franchise in its overall concept and visual style, particularly the main character and the machine enemies.

Sony and Tencent are locked in a legal dispute over the mobile game Light of Motiram. Sony filed a lawsuit in July, claiming Tencent copied elements from Sony’s Horizon franchise after their initial pitch was turned down. Sony alleges Tencent continued developing the game using Horizon’s assets without permission. The situation has escalated over the past five months, and in early December, Tencent agreed to temporarily halt public testing and promotion of Light of Motiram while awaiting a potential court hearing in early 2026.

Tencent Removes Light of Motiram From Storefronts Following Sony Lawsuit

The legal dispute between Tencent and Sony ended unexpectedly after just two weeks. Court documents filed on December 18th, as reported by The Game Post, show the lawsuit was withdrawn following a private agreement between both companies. The terms of the agreement, including whether any money was involved, haven’t been made public. Importantly, the case was dismissed permanently, meaning neither company can bring it up again in the future.

Shortly before this legal document became public, people on Reddit observed that Light of Motiram was no longer available on Steam and the Epic Games Store. Attempts to access the game through those platforms now redirect users to the Steam homepage or result in an error message. Neither Tencent nor Aurora Game Studio has commented on the legal filing or the game’s current status, but its removal from digital stores strongly suggests it has been canceled or is facing significant revisions.

As of today, the official website for Light of Motiram is still online, and most of the links on it work. The game’s X (formerly Twitter) account and YouTube channel are still active, but haven’t been updated recently – the last post on X was April 28th, and only one video was ever uploaded to YouTube (from January 2025). The game’s Discord server is also still accessible, and fans are currently using it to ask if the game has been canceled.

Although there’s a chance Light of Motiram could be redesigned and released again, it’s probably not very likely. Sony sued the game’s developers, claiming it copied not only the visual style of Horizon, but also important parts of its music, colors, and on-screen interface. To avoid future legal problems, Light of Motiram would need major changes to its fundamental design, which would be both costly and time-consuming.

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2025-12-18 16:34