Light & Wonder has provided an update regarding its ongoing legal dispute with Aristocrat in the U.S. District Court of Nevada. Despite the litigation, the company has confirmed that its financial targets for 2025 remain unchanged, including a targeted consolidated AEBITDA of $1.4 billion and an adjusted NPATA between $565 million and $635 million.
The legal case escalated on March 14, 2025, when Aristocrat filed a second amended complaint, introducing for the first time a trade secret misappropriation claim related to Jewel of the Dragon. Light & Wonder has announced it will respond to this claim by April 11.
In this latest complaint, Aristocrat alleges that replacement games for Dragon Train, such as Dragon Train Grand Central —a social game recently launched by Light & Wonder— would benefit from alleged trade secret misappropriation, even though Aristocrat has not claimed that these secrets are present in these new titles. Light & Wonder insists it has maintained full transparency, sharing the math model of Dragon Train Grand Central with Aristocrat before launch, and remains confident that their new land-based replacement game will be free of any Aristocrat trade secrets.
Additionally, the complaint references internal emails from game designer Emma Charles. Light & Wonder has conducted an internal investigation and confirms no evidence of impact on other studio games from these communications.
Regarding an unreleased game mentioned in the complaint, Light & Wonder proactively ceased its development after internal reviews identified potential issues in early versions, well before Aristocrat amended its filing.
In response to the claims around Jewel of the Dragon, Light & Wonder has decided to voluntarily withdraw the game from the market and offer replacements to minimize customer disruption. With less than 1% of its North American premium installed base impacted (approximately 150 leased units), the company anticipates no material impact on its financial outlook.
Light & Wonder has expanded its internal review to include all hold-and-spin games released before mid-2021. To date, no similar issues have been detected. The company maintains its confidence in the integrity of its portfolio and its ongoing commitment to research and development to strengthen its catalog of successful game franchises.
Importantly, Light & Wonder assures that the decision to cease commercialization of Jewel of the Dragon will not materially affect revenue or its commitment to its 2025 targets. The forecast does not yet include the expected acquisition of Grover Gaming’s charitable business, anticipated to close in Q2 2025. The company plans to share new strategic objectives at its upcoming 2025 Investor Day.
The dispute originally began in February 2024, when Aristocrat accused Light & Wonder of trade secret misappropriation concerning Dragon Train and copyright and trade dress infringement with Jewel of the Dragon. Following a preliminary injunction in September 2024, Light & Wonder swiftly replaced 95% of the Dragon Train units in North America and terminated Emma Charles’ employment.
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