Tencent allegedly included images of Horizon clone while pitching Last of Us game to Sony

Sony and Tencent were exploring options for third-party licensing deals of key PlayStation franchises, including The Last of Us...before Sony sued Tencent for copyright infringement.

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A new filing in the Sony vs Tencent copyright infringement case reveals an interesting development: At one point, Sony and Tencent were exploring ideas on a potential Last of Us collaboration.

In a written declaration, PlayStation's head of mobile Olivier Courtemanche recalls key events in the talks between Sony and Tencent, saying that at one point he met up with Tencent's in-house Aurora Studios to explore a potential Last of Us collaboration. Interestingly enough, Courtemanche says that Aurora Studios included assets from their Horizon imitator, Light of Motiram, in the presentation that he was shown. This presentation was supposed to include pitches and ideas for new games based on PlayStation IPs, including The Last of Us.

• Read more: Tencent wanted to make a Horizon mobile game, but Sony refused them...twice

The similarities between Light of Motiram and Horizon are the entire reason that Sony is suing Tencent for copyright infringement.

Aurora Studios originally wanted to make their own Horizon game, but Sony rejected the studio's offer in March 2024.

Then in July 2024, Courtemanche visited Aurora Studios to explore other options for licensing and to view the presentation and hear pitches.

Here's what Courtemanche said in the declaration:

"I traveled with members of my team to Shenzhen, China, in July 2024 to discuss a variety of partnership opportunities with Tencent and its game studios, including Aurora Studios.

"With respect to Aurora Studios, we went into the meeting under the impression that they wanted to do a potential collaboration for The Last of Us. However, although we had previously declined Tencent's request to co-develop a new Horizon mobile game, while watching Aurora Studios' presentation, we saw a slide with images resembling a potential Horizon collaboration from the Project Z concept discussed in March 2024.

"I recall the slide featured a female character with costume design resembling a Horizon robotic animal. Now that I have reviewed the promotional materials released for Light of Motiram, I believe that these images contained assets from the Light of Motiram game.

"I was confused by the slide given that we had rejected a potential Horizon collaboration and thought we were there to discuss The Last of Us, among other opportunities.

"To my knowledge as Head of Mobile at SIE, my team did not discuss a potential Horizon collaboration with Tencent at any time after July 2024 and we considered the matter of a co-development project based on Horizon closed."