In a significant development within the gaming industry, Tencent has initiated steps to have a lawsuit brought against it by Sony dismissed. Sony had previously accused Tencent's forthcoming open-world action title, Light of Motiram, of being a blatant imitation of its critically acclaimed post-apocalyptic franchise, Horizon Zero Dawn. Tencent, a global technology giant, swiftly modified the public promotional materials for Light of Motiram to reduce direct comparisons to Sony's property. However, their latest action signals a more aggressive stance, aiming to quash the legal proceedings entirely.

Tencent characterizes the lawsuit as \"astonishing,\" asserting that Sony is exhibiting excessive defensiveness regarding gameplay mechanics and elements that are widely prevalent across numerous successful video games. To bolster its position, Tencent references a statement from Sony that positioned Horizon Zero Dawn as unparalleled in its fictional world-building. Tencent counters this by arguing that Horizon Zero Dawn itself incorporates existing gaming conventions, pointing to a long lineage of titles featuring similar components that Sony now seeks to exclusively claim through this legal action. Furthermore, Tencent highlights a documentary revealing Horizon Zero Dawn's art director expressing concern over the conceptual similarities between their game and Enslaved: Odyssey to the West.

A recent court submission from Tencent elaborates on their perspective, stating, \"By suing over an unreleased project that merely employs the same time-honored tropes embraced by scores of other games released both before and after Horizon—like Enslaved, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Far Cry: Primal, Far Cry: New Dawn, Outer Wilds, Biomutant, and many more—Sony seeks an impermissible monopoly on genre conventions.\" This illustrates Tencent's core argument that Sony is attempting to monopolize generic elements common in the open-world action genre.

Tencent contends that Sony's allegations are purely speculative, based on assumptions about an unreleased product. Given that Light of Motiram's launch is still two years away, the final version of the game could significantly diverge from Sony's current assertions. This temporal aspect forms a crucial part of Tencent's defense, emphasizing the premature nature of the lawsuit.

A noteworthy, almost humorous, aspect of Tencent's defense is its claim that Sony vaguely attributes infringement to \"Tencent\" without specifying which of its five distinct entities is responsible. Tencent points out the existence of a holding company in China and two separate LLCs in Palo Alto. Essentially, Tencent suggests that Sony is unclear about the actual infringing party, although it's recognized that complex corporate structures can sometimes be designed to manage liability in such situations. Tencent further argues that a previous pitch by Tencent for a Horizon Zero Dawn spin-off does not imply malicious intent by the Light of Motiram developers, as they might be different teams, a point left somewhat ambiguous by Tencent's filing.

The motion is replete with such technical arguments. For instance, Tencent asserts that even if executives from its Holdings entity were present at a meeting with Sony, the discussion revolved around a mobile video game, not specifically Light of Motiram. The filing states, \"At any rate, Tencent Holdings is not the developer or publisher of Light of Motiram. That Tencent Holdings applied to register the LIGHT OF MOTIRAM trademark does not suggest otherwise ... the vast majority of overseas trademarks in the Tencent portfolio are registered by Tencent Holdings for trademark management purposes, not because Tencent Holdings is the entity that will develop, publish, create marketing materials for, or beta test the game.\"

Tencent also challenges Sony's claim regarding the trademark infringement of the character Aloy, arguing its flimsiness given Aloy's customizable appearance. In a seemingly absurd turn, Tencent disputes that Aloy serves as a \"source-identifying brand\" for the Horizon franchise, meaning she isn't universally recognized as the series' defining symbol. To support this, Tencent provides a screenshot where Aloy appears in the background, observing a dinosaur, suggesting she isn't the primary focus and thus not the \"cardinal\" brand element.

Certain aspects of Tencent's defense find resonance with earlier critiques of Horizon Zero Dawn, which, despite its solid execution, was sometimes deemed derivative in its core mechanics. Elements anticipated in Light of Motiram, such as crafting and base-building in an action game, are indeed common in contemporary AAA titles. However, the argument that Aloy is not central to the Horizon Zero Dawn brand stretches credulity. The ultimate resolution of this dispute rests with the judicial system.