Light & Wonder litigation update: Matt Wilson on Dragon Train 2.0 and employee termination
President and CEO Matt Wilson took to the company’s YouTube channel to discuss the latest updates on the case.
Key Points
- Wilson took to YouTube to assure viewers that the game is being removed from US and Australian markets in line with a recent court order
- Light & Wonder is currently working on a second version of Dragon Train, assuring that the new game complies with the order
- The designer involved in trade secret infringement has been terminated
- Wilson assured the situation is “an isolated incident”
Light & Wonder has posted a video to its YouTube channel, with President and CEO Matt Wilson giving updates on the current Dragon Train litigation case with Aristocrat.
The case, which first came to light in March, stated that Aristocrat intended to sue Light & Wonder due to the copying of its popular game, Dragon Link. Light & Wonder released its own title, Dragon Train, which a preliminary injunction in September claimed infringed on Aristocrat’s intellectual property and even copied the maths of the game, due to one former Aristocrat employee who worked on the game also working on the Light & Wonder title.
Wilson began the video with several forward-looking statements, making it clear he wishes to clear the air before G2E 2024, which kicks off on 7 October. He stated, “First, we are ensuring that our customers are taken care of as we comply with the judge’s order. Second, ensuring that we deliver our 2025 consolidated AEBITDA target of $1.4bn and sustainable growth in the years that follow.”
The video then went on to address the North American market, where Light & Wonder has roughly 33,000 lease units. According to Wilson, Dragon Train represented roughly 2,200 of these units, with Wilson stating, “We’re working very diligently with our customers to convert those games out in compliance with the judge’s order. Happy to say at this point we’ve not had a single removal request from our customers and we have a lineup of great games from a deep portfolio of franchises… from which we can backfill these requests.
“We are working hard with our customers to install these new games as quickly as possible so that Dragon Train is taken out of the fleet and that’s our immediate priority.”
Good to know: Wilson was appointed as Interim CEO in August 2022 following the departure of former CEO Barry Cottle, before becoming permanent CEO in October that same year.
Next, to address the Australian market, Wilson explained that, despite the game’s popularity, Light & Wonder has stopped selling the game following the order issue, with customers being contacted with alternate games instead as part of its sales pipeline.
A second version of Dragon Train was next on the agenda, which will be designed “in compliance with the order.” Wilson confirmed the team is actively working on the game, adding, “We expect Dragon Train will continue to be a franchise in our portfolio for many years to come… When you think about what’s in question here in this order, it’s really a small portion of the overall game that is Dragon Train. It’s just certain aspects of the math that are being challenged.”
After discussing the supplier’s wider portfolio, second quarter results and G2E plans, Wilson confirmed that the designer involved in the litigation case has been terminated, before assuring that the case will not impact Light & Wonder’s capital allocation strategy.
Wrapping up the video, Wilson stated, “In summary, I remain really excited about the future at Light and Wonder. This is an isolated incident that we are mitigating effectively,” before pointing again to G2E and the supplier’s plans to continue its current business momentum.
It seems, despite the preliminary injunction, Light & Wonder has continued its growth trajectory as stated by Wilson. Recent examples of this include the supplier’s cross-platform feature, which debuted with Loto-Québec at the end of September.
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