Tencent Quietly Edits Light of Motiram Steam Art After Sony Copyright Suit

7 minutes Kevin Leye

Tencent has quietly updated the Steam page for Light of Motiram in the days following a lawsuit from Sony that alleges the upcoming game borrows too closely from the Horizon franchise. Store art and promotional assets appear to have been swapped or removed, and the game’s description now leans on more generic survival-crafting language. It’s a small but telling shift that raises big questions about how studios navigate inspiration, originality, and legal risk in an industry that loves to iterate.

The short version

Light of Motiram, developed under Tencent’s Polaris Quest, is pitched as a post-apocalyptic open-world survival-crafting game featuring mechanized creatures. From its initial reveal, players drew comparisons to Horizon, and in July Sony filed a lawsuit alleging infringement. While Tencent hasn’t publicly commented at the time of writing, store-tracking updates indicate that key art, screenshots, and trailers on the Steam page have been quietly pruned or replaced, and the store description has been toned down. That doesn’t prove anything on its own, but it does suggest a tightening of the game’s public presentation.

What changed on Steam

If you’ve been following the game’s page, the differences are hard to miss. According to store update trackers, several promotional elements were adjusted shortly after the suit became public:

  • The main cover image was swapped for a new visual.
  • Multiple screenshots and at least one trailer were removed.
  • Other promotional stills were replaced with alternatives.
  • The store description shifted away from attention-grabbing details about machine-filled wilderness toward broader survival beats.

Taken together, these are the kinds of edits you often see when a marketing team wants to reduce confusion, dial back perceived overlap with another IP, or simply pause on materials that could become exhibits in a court case. None of that confirms wrongdoing, but it signals that the publisher is recalibrating how the game is shown to the world.

How we got here

Light of Motiram made a splash when it was unveiled: an open world, a harsh future, and towering mechanized wildlife promised a blend of exploration, crafting, and combat. The reveal also sparked immediate comparisons to Horizon’s distinct mix of tribal aesthetics and high-tech fauna. Comparisons aren’t unusual in games—genres thrive on echoes—but Sony’s subsequent lawsuit alleges that Light of Motiram crosses a legal line, asserting that elements of Horizon’s identity show up too closely in Tencent’s project. Sony has claimed it declined a license request and that development continued anyway; Tencent, for its part, has not publicly responded to those claims as of this writing.

It’s worth stressing that lawsuits begin as allegations. The legal process will sort fact from framing, and the bar for infringement is nuanced. In the meantime, the marketing narrative becomes its own battlefield, and that’s where art edits and revised descriptions can matter.

Inspiration vs. imitation: where the line gets blurry

Plenty of games share bones: crafting loops, bow-based combat, robot enemies, even post-apocalyptic biomes. The legal tension emerges when a work is said to reproduce the particular expression of another—think visual motifs, signature silhouettes, UI layouts, creature designs with distinctive anatomy, and the overall “look and feel” that makes a series instantly recognizable.

For developers trying to avoid those pitfalls, the watchwords are differentiation and specificity:

  • Unique silhouettes: If a creature’s outline evokes a famous design, push it in a new direction.
  • New visual language: Patterns, color palettes, and materials should read as your own.
  • Distinct tech and lore: Don’t echo the way technology functions, is named, or is integrated into the world.
  • UI and UX: Reinvent interactions and layouts rather than echoing another game’s presentation.
  • Signature moments: Boss encounters, set pieces, and traversal tools should have their own identity.

Light of Motiram’s revisions on Steam may suggest a broader internal review along these lines. Even if the final game plays nothing like Horizon, tightening the brand story is a smart move in the court of public opinion.

Why these edits matter to players

Marketing tells us what a studio thinks the hook is. When that messaging changes—especially in the middle of legal turbulence—it can influence expectations:

  • Clarity of identity: If Light of Motiram leans into systems-driven survival and base-building, players will evaluate it against peer titles in that space rather than just the Horizon comparison.
  • Trust and transparency: Quiet changes can feel cagey, but they can also reflect due diligence. Gamers tend to reward studios that communicate clearly once they have something firm to share.
  • Roadmap reality: Asset scrubs sometimes foreshadow deeper design tweaks, which can affect timelines. That could mean delays, betas, or a phased marketing reboot.

None of this dooms the project. Some games find themselves during a messy marketing cycle and emerge stronger for it. The crucial piece is whether the core idea holds up—and whether the team leans into what makes their game uniquely theirs.

The community pulse

Across forums and social feeds, the vibe is split:

  • Some players argue that robotic wildlife isn’t proprietary as a concept and are eager to judge the game on its mechanics and progression.
  • Others feel the initial presentation strayed too close and welcome the art and copy changes as a step toward originality.
  • A third camp is just curious: if you strip away the comparisons, what is Light of Motiram actually about?

That last question is an opportunity. If Polaris Quest can articulate a clear identity—say, a survival-crafting loop built around training and deploying mechanical companions, or a tech tree that meaningfully reimagines post-collapse innovation—it can reclaim the narrative.

What to watch next

This situation will likely develop in stages:

  • Legal milestones: Motions, responses, and any preliminary rulings could take months. Don’t expect quick resolution.
  • Marketing reboot: New trailers or deep dives that emphasize unique mechanics, art direction, and story footing would be a strong signal.
  • Developer commentary: A carefully worded update acknowledging the changes and explaining the creative direction could go a long way.
  • In-game redesigns: If creature silhouettes, animations, or UI change in future footage, that will tell us a redesign effort is underway.
  • Timeline updates: Any shift in release windows or playtests will hint at scope of changes behind the scenes.

A note on precedent

The games industry has seen its share of legal skirmishes over look-and-feel, from character designs to building mechanics. While not every case reaches a courtroom verdict, the chilling effect is real: studios become more cautious, and marketing teams learn to sanity-check assets early. The upside is an incentive to push past easy comparisons and deliver stronger identities. When that happens, players win with more varied worlds to explore.

Final thoughts

It’s easy to reduce this to a headline about a store page refresh, but beneath the surface is a larger story about how games are made and sold. Light of Motiram still has a chance to carve out its own space if it doubles down on distinctive systems and style. The legal process will take its time; in the meantime, the best proof of originality will be in the next wave of footage and hands-on impressions.

For now, the quiet edits feel like a pause, not an ending. If the team uses that pause to sharpen its vision, the next chapter could be the one that convinces players to watch Light of Motiram on its own terms.