Horizon Zero Dawn Copycat Drama Continues as Tencent Claims Sony Was Already Concerned its Game Too Closely Resembled Enslaved

Tencent has deed backmost astatine Sony's suit that claimed upcoming crippled Light of Motiram was thing much than a "slavish clone" of Horizon Zero Dawn — and highlighted concerns wrong the PlayStation shaper that its ain crippled was excessively akin to Enslaved: Odyssey to the West.

In a caller effect to Sony's ineligible action, Chinese tech elephantine Tencent branded the suit arsenic an "impermissible" effort to assertion ownership of "well-trodden" tropes — specified arsenic a red-headed heroine warring robot dinosaurs — and a bid by Sony to summation a monopoly implicit an full genre.

In addition, Tencent highlighted past comments made by Horizon Zero Dawn developer Jan-Bart Van Beek, wherever the creation manager admitted concerns wrong Guerrilla that its conception was excessively akin to Ninja Theory's 2013 crippled Enslaved: Odyssey to the West — different illustration of a red-headed heroine warring robot beasts.

In a ineligible filing reported by The Game Post, Tencent described Sony's determination arsenic an overreach, and highlighted different crippled franchises with akin elements to Horizon Zero Dawn specified arsenic The Legend of Zelda and Far Cry. It was "startling," Tencent said, that Sony was present attempting to assertion Horizon's conception was original, alternatively than an thought based connected "ubiquitous genre ingredients."

"By suing implicit an unreleased task that simply employs the aforesaid time-honored tropes embraced by scores of different games released some earlier and aft Horizon — similar Enslaved, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Far Cry: Primal, Far Cry: New Dawn, Outer Wilds, Biomutant, and galore much — Sony seeks an impermissible monopoly connected genre conventions," Tencent wrote.

Sony's assertion that Horizon was an archetypal PlayStation conception was besides "flatly contradicted" by remarks made successful a behind-the-scenes documentary by Van Beek, Tencent stated, claiming that Guerrilla had concisely shelved enactment connected Horizon Zero Dawn owed to interior concerns it shared excessively galore similarities with Enslaved.

"Long earlier this suit was filed, the developers of Horizon Zero Dawn publically acknowledged that the precise aforesaid crippled elements that, today, Sony claims to ain exclusively, were successful information borrowed from an earlier game," Tencent argued.

"Mr. Van Beek warned, 'I don’t deliberation we should bash this; it touches excessively overmuch of these different points,' referring to salient elements of Enslaved. Sony shelved the task — lone to revive it aboriginal with afloat consciousness that the thought was acold from novel. When Horizon Zero Dawn yet launched successful 2017, the gaming assemblage noted its striking resemblance to Enslaved and different genre staples."

Tencent's rebuttal attempts to disregard different elements of Sony's lawsuit, too, by stating that its enactment connected Light of Motiram was unconnected to a failed transportation gathering with Sony for a Horizon spin-off. Tencent has besides claimed that Sony's full suit is invalid due to the fact that the institution had named the incorrect parts of Tencent successful its archetypal complaint.

Still, portion attempting to support itself from Sony's ineligible action, it is notable that Tencent has besides seemingly made adjustments to the work-in-progress Light of Motiram itself. A glimpse astatine the game's Steam leafage shows it has been scrubbed of screenshots and logos that depicted its redheaded prima and those robot dinosaurs. The proposition present is that Tencent plans to yet merchandise Light of Motiram without the elements Sony has deemed astir akin to Horizon. It'll beryllium absorbing to spot however Sony responds to these evident alterations erstwhile it issues its rebuttal.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You tin scope Tom astatine [email protected] oregon find him connected Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social