To: The National Hockey League (NHL) Licensing Department & The National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA)

For over a decade, hockey gaming has suffered from a lack of innovation, stale annual updates, and declining consumer satisfaction. While fans often direct their frustration at video game publishers, the root cause of this stagnation lies higher up the chain.. The NHL and NHLPA's restrictive licensing structure.

Multi-million dollar upfront licensing fees create an artificial monopoly. This financial barrier effectively locks out indie, mid-tier, and specialized game studios before development even begins. Without market competition, there is zero business incentive for any developer to innovate, overhaul physics engines, or offer fair pricing models.

Consumer boycotts do not fix structural market failures. We are calling on the NHL and NHLPA to modernize their intellectual property licensing strategy by adopting a tiered licensing or revenue-sharing model.

Why the NHL & NHLPA Should Reform Their Licensing Structure:

The must needed expansion of the hockey fanbase… High-barrier, $70 annual simulation games exclude casual, younger, and non-hardcore fans. Tiered licensing allows smaller studios to create arcade, mobile, management, and casual games (in the spirit of NHL Hitz or 3on3) that introduce new audiences to the sport.
This isn’t just about us consumers, this benefits the league and opens them to more sources of revenue. Instead of relying on a single publisher, a tiered or revenue-share model creates multiple, steady licensing income streams across diverse gaming markets without risking existing main stage partnerships.
What happened to innovation?? When indie and mid-tier studios are granted affordable access to official NHL/NHLPA IP, natural competition forces all developers to deliver better products, fair pricing, and higher quality experiences for consumers.

To bring modern competition, diverse styles of play, and true innovation back to hockey gaming, the NHLPA must modernize its approach. We urge the NHLPA to adopt a Tiered and Revenue-Share Licensing System, modeled after modern digital and entertainment industries…

Lowering Barriers to Entry via Revenue-Share: Replace or drastically reduce rigid, multi-million dollar upfront minimum guarantees with percentage based royalty models. This allows mid-tier publishers, independent studios, and specialized developers to afford the rights without risking corporate bankruptcy before development even begins.

Creating Distinct License Tiers:  Establish tiered licensing categories based on the scope of the game. For example..

Simulation Tier: For full scale, broadcast quality console and PC simulations.
Arcade/Alternative Tier: For fast paced, casual, or stylized hockey games that appeal to a broader and more casual audience.
Management/Simulation Tier: For deep, stat-heavy franchise and general manager simulators.
Incentivizing Quality Through Market Competition: Different developers can focus on different experiences. When studios must actually compete for consumers attention rather than capturing a captive audience by default, quality, depth, and engine innovation will naturally follow.
Maximizing Long-Term Player Value: While upfront guarantees offer a quick check, a vibrant market with multiple licensed hockey titles across platforms ultimately expands the overall footprint of the sport, creating a larger cumulative revenue pool and better brand exposure for the players.
It is time for the NHLPA to look past legacy roadblocks and build a licensing framework that works for the players, the developers, and the fans who keep the sport alive.

We urge the NHL and NHLPA to stop gatekeeping official hockey IP behind single publisher barriers and open up pathways for competition, variety, and the future growth of hockey gaming.