"Men of sense often learn from their enemies. It is from their foes, not their friends, that cities learn the lesson of building high walls and ships of war ..." - Aristophanes

It wasn't a shock to hear the not-quite-denied rumors that 2KSports might pull the plug on the NHL 2K series. After all, the perpetually best-selling EA series gradually won the hearts of video game critics in the PS3/Xbox 360 era as well, while the 2K series failed to counter EA's next-gen control scheme.

The NHL2K series might not have produced much of a polygonal forecheck since game companies made the undeniably expensive jump from PS2/X-Box hardware to the "next-gen" but that doesn't keep its death from being a bummer. After the jump, we'll look at the history of the EA Sports-Take Two/Visual Concepts rivalry and how those battles arguably doomed a once-great hockey game franchise.

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EA Sports-based bitterness from its birth

The not-so-friendly competition between the two sports games makers goes back quite some time (and it's nearly impossible to look at the history of the hockey games without discussing the gigantic Madden NFL series).

At one point, Visual Concepts - the company that eventually sold its sports titles to Take-Two Interactive - actually was very friendly with EA Sports. The company ported the Madden series to the SNES and impressed many while doing so. Unfortunately, the two companies fractured their relationship in a serious way when it was clear that Visual Concepts could not meet a deadline to produce the first Playstation-1 Madden game.

The real fireworks came, however, in the case of EA giving the cold shoulder to Sega's tragic-yet-beloved Dreamcast console. Sega purchased Visual Concepts for $10 million, hoping to create a dynamic lineup of Dreamcast-exclusive sports titles only to find that EA wanted to be the only game in town. (Or was it that EA couldn't trust Sega after other failed console launches? It's really a he-said, he-said battle - as you can read about here - that makes one speculate that maybe both sides were being stubborn and petty ...)

EA exec Bing Gordon infamously said the "Dreamcast can't succeed without EA" and although it may be extreme to blame the system's defeat solely to losing the video game industry's biggest third party publisher, it's hard to say that it wasn't a big factor.

Despite the Dreamcast's floundering sales, the console's sports titles were typically well-received and the console itself was beloved enough to inspire a bevy of 10-year anniversary articles along with claims that it was in many ways the predecessor to the Xbox 360.

After perhaps deciding the fate of Sega's final home console, there would be one more great fight between the two companies.

2K's move to publish $20 titles makes EA sweat, then EA drops the hammer

With Sony's NFL Gameday series and Midway's NFL Blitz titles providing little more than a distraction for most football fans, it became obvious to gamers in the first half of the '00s that the big sports games in town were made by EA and Take Two.

While EA never relinquished its market share, the 2K series landed heavy body blows with a smooth integration of its ESPN license and really made EA squirm when they dropped their games to a budget-title level of $20.

Ultimately, 2K's friskiness in the pigskin arena would lead to their demise when EA signed a somewhat shocking exclusive licensing deal with the NFL. While the NHL and NBA never signed exclusivity deals, 2K countered by purchasing the MLB license.

Oddly enough, it's possible that both had a negative impact on 2K and ultimately played a role in the death of its hockey series. Losing the right to use NFL players, teams and other likenesses basically killed their popular football games (even with a tepidly received game that featured NFL legends ... including OJ!) while tying up the MLB reportedly costs Take-Two $30-$40 million per year. Considering the baby-sized sales the series registers, it's not easy to criticize the company for pulling the plug.

It's sad, but perhaps inevitable.

Looking at EA's Madden series makes one wonder if the NHL series will grow complacent

So, we've taken the scenic route here but it all wraps up into the question: if the NHL series effectively has a puck sim monopoly, will that make EA go into "superficial upgrades and roster updates" mode?

Some sports fans feel that way about how the Madden series reacted to losing its greatest rival (although the series often receives glowing reviews). Then again, the NHL series' innovations have grown a bit more subtle after a few years of big leaps:

NHL '07 featured the introduction (or at least the most dramatic implementation) of the "skill stick." NHL '08 refined what was largely broken game in '07, giving the game a solid core. NHL '09 brought about one of the most impressive innovations in digital hockey, introducing a "Be a Pro" mode in which you create your own player and can either go through a off-line career or play with a full team of human teammates.

NHL '10? It's main innovations were a post-whistle scuffle feature (which was quite horrible in my opinion) and a mostly well-executed board play feature.

There is some sentiment that the series is getting a little stagnant, but what happens if EA no longer has to even consider its once-proud opponent? Even for the many who've ignored or disliked the series' recent output, the indirect effects could make pixel pucking far less fun going forward.

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Now that we've taken a look at the behind-the-scenes stuff, we'll look back at the series itself next time. Stay tuned.