Slot machine maker Light & Wonder on Wednesday held a booth presentation at the Australian Gaming Expo. According to Jefferies Equity Research analyst Kai Erman, the goal was to address “flagging ambition” to accelerate Light & Wonder’s position in Australia and New Zealand.
Erman wrote that Light & Wonder “illustrated a strong pipeline of products which should address recent [Australia/New Zealand] share decline, looking to supplement the Cosmic cabinet beyond existing game (Jin Chan).” He went on to say that the company had demonstrated its new Carbon AI game platform, “aimed to drive higher quality game production and omnichannel porting.”
Per the Jefferies analyst, Light & Wonder gave concrete evidence of new product initiatives hinted at in the second-earnings call. These took the form of “key product launches” aimed at the Antipodes. That included Star Studios’s Grand Legion, along with Light & Wonder’s own Big Steam, Frankenstein, and Bride of Frankenstein games.
As for the Carbon platform, Erman reported that Light & Wonder “is early on AI adoption for development, [but] it is clear they have a strong focus on adoption.” The company reported success in moving from the costly, open-source, Unity 3D platform.
Light & Wonder was also upbeat on its ability to port online and terrestrial games alike to Carbon. Management felt this would enable them to bring top-shelf games to market more quickly.
Reported Erman, Light & Wonder “noted, sensibly in our view, its focus is driving higher quality games … via AI rather than increasing cadence of releases in land-based gaming given natural limitations such as floor constraints, shipping timelines and manufacturing constraints.”
Regarding the United States market, Light & Wonder executives reported ongoing strength in their Gaming Operations sector, potency they expected would continue. Revised versions of extant games such as Nova and Ultimate Fire Link were said to be doing well.
New products were expected for Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas also. Among them, Erman looked forward to the Lightwave Solar cabinet, which he said was the second-most-anticipated cabinet in a recent Eilers-Krecjik survey.
Light & Wonder execs assured analysts that they would hit their 2028 fiscal targets. In particular, Gaming Operations “continues to show strong execution, ahead of their initial expectations when setting guidance,” according to Erman.
SciPlay was described as somewhat of a drag on the company, tracking less well than expected. However, the social-casino studio could be helped by additional regulation of sweepstakes gambling, Erman said.
The analyst concluded that Light & Wonder’s “approach to capital management has been mixed over the past 18 months after an extensive period of deleveraging.” This was largely due to the acquisition of Grover Gaming, along with a heating up in buybacks of stock.
