Tencent has agreed to hold off on any promotion of its upcoming open-world survival game Light of Motiram – a game that Sony alleged is a "slavish clone" of its own Horizon titles – at least until things reach an important next step in the two companies' ongoing legal battle.
Light of Motiram, developed by Tencent subsidiary Polaris Quest, was unveiled last year, and immediately found itself being compared to Horizon Zero Dawn thanks to its animal-like machine foes, key visuals, and concept. Sony clearly thought it looked rather familiar, too, as it filed a lawsuit against Tencent earlier this year, calling Light of Motiram a "slavish clone." Tencent has defended itself, arguing that Sony's action is "an improper attempt to fence off a well-trodden corner of popular culture and declare it Sony's exclusive domain," and later declaring that "fame does not create a trademark; to qualify as a trademark, a mark must serve as a source identifier for a particular good or service."
Now, as spotted by The Game Post, yesterday a new stipulation and proposed order was filed, in which – per Sony Interactive Entertainment's request – Tencent agrees that (amongst other things), "there will be no new promotion or public testing of Light of Motiram during the pendency of the Motion for Preliminary Injunction," and "the Light of Motiram release will not be moved up to before Q4 2027."
For context, back in October, Sony sought a preliminary injunction – essentially, an order which stops a party from doing something until the courts make their final decision. In this case, it wanted to stop Tencent "from reproducing, preparing derivative works of, displaying, performing, and distributing any works copied or derived from SIE's Horizon Works, including Light of Motiram, and from using the ALOY Character Mark or any confusingly similar mark pending trial."
In a declaration of support of the new stipulation and proposed order, Tencent's attorney says: "The Parties have agreed to a stipulated request for a modified briefing schedule with mutually agreeable dates and a mutually agreeable hearing date for both the Motion to Dismiss and Motion for Preliminary Injunction. The Parties request that Defendants' deadline to file their response to the Motion for Preliminary Injunction shall be December 17, 2025 and that SIE's deadline to file it Reply in Support of the Motion for Preliminary Injunction shall be January 2, 2026.
"The Parties further request that the hearing date for both the Motion to Dismiss and the Motion for Preliminary Injunction be reset from January 15, 2026 to January 29, 2026, subject to the Court's availability."
Basically, it sounds like we can expect a lot more of the case to unfold in January, but for the time being, don't expect to see any official new Light of Motiram footage or teasers.
While you're here, be sure to take a look at our roundup of new games coming this year and beyond.
