Dear, wake up, another blatant fraud has just occurred, and this matter will cause legal trouble sooner or later. Tencent Games and subsidiary Polaris Quest just announced Light of Motirama “legitimately unique” take on PlayStation's Horizon series. The biggest surprise? This is an MMO that's only available on PC (for now).
The big announcement came out of nowhere, including an extensive press release (via Gematsu) along with trailers and screenshots, as well as a Steam page that already contained tons of details. The game will also be released through the Epic Games Store. As for the plan's price tag (or free model), no information has been revealed yet.
iGamesNews
I think Palworld developers can rest easy now that Light of Motiram is sure to attract more attention in the coming weeks, at least in terms of blatantly ripping off existing IP. It's hard to imagine a scenario where Sony doesn't panic and start throwing lawyers at Tencent. From the overall aesthetic to the creature design – which made me do a double (or even triple) take – The Light of Motiram clearly straddles more than a few lines.
You can check out the main trailer below (more videos have been released):
Watch on YouTube
The most interesting thing about the announcement is that it comes before PlayStation publicly launches its online-only video game Horizon, which is sort of the company's biggest bet yet in the live-service space that brought Power So much trouble. If Palworld's initial success (which was enough to fuel its growth over the years) taught us anything, it's that casual players don't really care how much a game looks like someone else's, as long as it's fun. If Polaris Quest has a satisfying real-time gameplay loop, this could spell trouble for PlayStation and Guerrilla's Horizon live service, which is another reason we think a legal fight is coming (pun intended).
Light of Mortilam promises a heavy focus on survival and crafting formulas, and while combat encounters appear to be played out in a similar fashion to Monster Hunter, this approach has proven to be very profitable in recent times. Obviously the most logical way to make Horizon vs. Machine's combat work is honestly in a co-op environment. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that Guerrilla will achieve this goal with its long-in-development Horizon project as well.
Regardless, it's just another bump in the horizon's long and bumpy road. The series seems big enough for Sony to double down on treating it as the “big thing” it is right now, and despite the lack of excitement in the first few weeks of each release, it seems destined to hit roadblocks around every corner. It's been churning out new titles alongside more interesting titles, with the recent launch of LEGO Horizon Adventures reportedly having disappointing sales, at least on PC.
Even Netflix's planned live-action Horizon series is in trouble, with PlayStation Studios and PlayStation Studios following reports that showrunner Steve Blackman (of The Umbrella Academy fame) has created a “toxic work environment.” The streaming company shut down the project entirely for the time being. “oops.
