Sony and Tencent Were Discussing a Collaboration for The Last of Us, But the Meeting Went Wrong

The ongoing dispute between Tencent and Sony over Light of Motiram continues, as the Japanese company considers it an illegal clone of Horizon.

Amid the information shared in the legal case, it was revealed that Tencent and Sony once had a meeting to discuss a potential game based on The Last of Us.

Sony’s Perspective on the Possible Collaboration

Olivier Courtemanche, Head of Mobile at PlayStation Studios, stated that he traveled to Shenzhen, China, in July 2024 to explore a potential partnership with Tencent and its development teams—particularly Aurora Studios, which works on Light of Motiram.

According to Courtemanche, Tencent’s proposal for a Horizon-themed game had already been rejected in April 2024. Later, during the July 2024 meeting, Sony was ready to discuss a possible The Last of Us project, but the presentation took an unexpected turn.

“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,” Courtemanche said. However, during their presentation, a slide appeared showing images resembling a potential collaboration on Horizon, based on the concept called Project Z, which had been discussed in March 2024.

Confusion During the Presentation

“I recall the slide featured a female character with costume design resembling Horizon’s mix of tribal clothing and metal armor, and a robot/animal hybrid resembling a Horizon robotic animal,” he added. “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.”

In the end, nothing related to The Last of Us was presented or developed. Still, the event shows that Sony was open to a potential collaboration involving Naughty Dog’s iconic IP.