The PlayStation department under the Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has now filed a formal complaint with the world ‘ s largest game company, alleging that its upcoming new title, The Origin of the Wild, violated the copyright and trademark rights of the Sony RPG game Horizon series. On the basis of a petition filed on 25 July with the United States Federal District Court for the Northern District of California, Sony claimed that the Origin of the Desert was a “pixel-grade cloning” of the Zero Dawn and the West Ban.
Origin of the Wild (left) / Horizon (right)
In its Memorial, PlayStation stated that its action was “to prevent the attempt of the Origin of the Desert, a popular and prestigious pixel-class copy of the publication of works in the SIE series”. The petition further states: “The launch of the Shan version of Elroy, which is the symbol of the Horizon, as the centrepiece of its pre-sale marketing and outreach strategy, has deliberately led many players to mistook The Origin of the Wild as the next work of the Horizon series when they came into contact with the video and social media account of the Telecommunications Games.”
In the petition, it was stated that the inquiry had developed the Origin of the Wilds around 2023, and that its background had been set in a post-mortem world in which human tribes had fought for survival against “large mechanical monsters”. The red-haired female role of the telecommunication design is highly similar to that of Elroy, the lead actor of the Horizon, and serves as a central focus for advocacy. SIE alleges that the arraignment was deliberately used in propaganda to induce players to misperceive the new work of the Horizon.
Eloy (right)
The petition also revealed that the arraignment had attempted to market Sony’s own version of the Horizon with a view to cooperation. Despite Sony ‘ s rejection of the proposal, the arraignment continued its plan. “The arraignment was not held back by the SIE’s refusal to authorize its Horizon intellectual property rights”, the petition states, “the arraignment continues to develop the origin of the wilderness in secret and finally publishes the upcoming game”.
In his petition, Sony requested the court to order that compensation be awarded for each of the violated independent works in the Horizon series, for the payment of a statutory indemnity of US$ 150,000, or for the actual losses suffered by SIE as a result of the defendant ‘ s copyright violation. In addition, Sony seeks other pecuniary damages.
The date of the release of the Mota Light has not yet been published. Based on the official description of the game context in Modila, a world occupied by giant mechanical beasts, the players will explore a vast open world, establish a base of operations, advance science and technology, train mechanical beasts and challenge powerful leaders. Starting from the primordial era, new paths to development have been opened. Resisting mechanical rule, living with mechanical beasts.
By contrast, Sony described the launch of Horizon: Zero Dawn in 2017 as: “In the distant future, the world is roamed and ruled by mechanical beasts, and human remains survive in a unique form of tribe among the ashes of our long-lost civilization. Taking bows and spears and playing young robot hunters, tribal exiles — Elroy — she will open her own mystery, explore the truth of this mysterious world and shoulder the destiny of saving the world from evil.”
In fact, it appears from the launch of The Origin of the Desert, that it is more like an open world sandbox survival game, which is quite different from that played in the Horizon series. However, there is little difference between their fine arts design and world design. Both sides are now responding to this matter.
