Clones, Acquisitions, and Shifting Futures

The past couple weeks, I struggled to find enough news I cared to share. This week I had so many tabs open it was hard to narrow things down.

Time to jack in with your personal link. Here’s this week’s headlines.

Horizon Zero Dawn Clone Lawsuit

Sony brought a lawsuit against Tencent, the Chinese gaming juggernaut. Sony argues that Tencent’s new game, Light of Motiram, is a rip-off of Horizon Zero Dawn. Further, Sony says that Tencent originally came to them pitching a mobile Horizon spinoff. They seek to block the game’s release, as well as financial compensation.

Why This Matters: Sony waited around eight months to sue Tencent, meaning they either believe the game has confused gamers about their connection in those eight months, or they’ve been building a specific case in that time.

My Take: I’m no expert on copyrights or anything, but I’m torn on whether Sony can win this. Yes, there are glaring similarities: the color palettes and general idea behind the games are nearly the same. The gameplay is different enough to tell apart. Let’s be real, does anyone really want Sony to win? Game clones seem to be as old as time. Should Grand Theft Auto have gone after Saints Row in its early days for being an open world, crime-based game? 

Question: Should Sony shut down Light of Motiram?

Atari Buys Majority of SteamWorld Creator

The $5.1 million acquisition will give Atari an 82% share of Thunderful Group. Thunderful has been struggling on multiple fronts, and this is the latest in Atari’s string of acquisitions to bolster the company’s game development ambitions.

Why This Matters: The SteamWorld series is popular, and Atari is still a big name. This adds to their list of games they can brand as their own, while also remastering others.

My Take: Only time will tell how SteamWorld fares from this acquisition. It’s a smart move on Atari’s part to further diversify their offerings and keep them positioned for the future.

Question: What should Atari do next with its newest acquisition?

PlayStation Pushing Further Away From Exclusivity?

Sony listed a new job on their website: Senior Director of Multiplatform and Account Management. The listing specifically mentions strategy for bringing PlayStation Studios games across other digital platforms.

Why This Matters: While Xbox has been bringing some of their biggest exclusives to PlayStation, the opposite has been much more limited. This speaks to a future where even more Sony titles could land on Microsoft and Nintendo consoles.

My Take: PlayStation would likely follow their PC model, implementing a waiting period between game releases on PlayStation and other consoles. Even with that delay, it could bring down the cost of next-gen gaming if I don’t need each console. At the same time, if anyone were to drop out of the “console wars” now, we could lose a lot of drive and innovation from whichever company (Sony) would continue making systems.

Question: Which PlayStation titles are you most interested in seeing making the console jump?

Quick Bites

Just a few quick hits I want to blow through:

• Amazon is developing a Wolfenstein series. I love killing Nazis, and I’m excited about a series dedicated to it. 
• Battlefield 6 was rumored to launch at $80, but EA says that isn’t in their plans. It sounds EA across the board has no plans to raise prices—yet. I’m dreading the day we’re stuck paying even more for their games and dealing with their microtransactions.
• Lego announced one of their coolest sets ever. The Lego Game Boy looks incredible, and I need three of them. It’s only $60 and it will come out on October 1.

There’s a lot more news I skipped, so drop me some comments or hit me up on X, @darkstarshady, if you want to continue the conversation.