Electronic Arts recently signed a six-year, $44.2 million exclusivity agreement with the NHLPA, but nobody told the NHL itself, according to an article in the Sports Business Journal (subscription required). The deal reportedly only covered third-party games, so Sony could continue its licensing of the Gretzky NHL series.

Upset by the notion that the players would try to go behind its back and essentially impose exclusivity on the deal, the league refused to extend its own licensing agreement with EA unless all parties returned to the negotiating table and found a way to cut Take-Two Interactive in on the deal. Take-Two publishes the NHL 2K series of games through its 2K Sports label, while Electronic Arts has published NHL games dating back to NHL Hockey on the Sega Genesis in 1991. In that stretch of time, the company only once made a game with the Player's Association license but not the league license, NHLPA '93.