EA drops licenses with gun manufacturers

EA has announced that it is severing its licensing with gun manufacturers, but claims that it still has the right to feature branded guns without a license.

11

Electronic Arts has announced that it is severing its licensing with gun manufacturers, but claims that it still has the right to feature branded guns without a license. The matter could be pressed to court, but legal experts say there is no precedent for gun companies suing game publishers for displaying branded guns.

"We're telling a story and we have a point of view," EA's President of Labels Frank Gibeau told Reuters. "A book doesn't pay for saying the word 'Colt,' for example."

While gun manufacturers have not announced any plans for a suit, EA does have a court date in June with Bell Helicopter. The company argues that EA's use of its helicopters in Battlefield games is not fair use. The results of that case could be a bellwether for any potential legal action from gun manufacturers.

"It gives publicity to the particular brand of gun being used in the video game," said Ohio State professor Brad J. Bushman, who has studied video game violence. "On the other hand, it's linking that gun with violent and aggressive behavior."

This is EA's second move away from gun manufacturers in the last several months. In December, the company removed links to firearms manufacturers, calling them "inappropriate" in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting. It noted, however, that it was a charity project that raised money for veterans, and that the company didn't receive payment from the deal.

Editor-In-Chief
Filed Under
From The Chatty
  • reply
    May 8, 2013 3:45 PM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, EA drops licenses with gun manufacturers.

    EA has announced that it is severing its licensing with gun manufacturers, but claims that it still has the right to feature branded guns without a license.

    • reply
      May 8, 2013 4:17 PM

      Great, the politically correct police have struck again.

      • reply
        May 8, 2013 6:15 PM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        May 8, 2013 6:28 PM

        You didn't actually read the article, did you? It has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with saving money.

        • reply
          May 9, 2013 7:02 AM

          Ah, sure. Yep that's what it was!

        • reply
          May 9, 2013 8:56 AM

          "In December, the company removed links to firearms manufacturers, calling them "inappropriate" in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting."

          If they were 'inappropriate' then, they're 'inappropriate' now. EA can couch it however they want, but the real reason is still evident. Besides, if they can feature branded guns without the license, why have the license to begin with? They're trying to sever ties with the gun manufacturers to save face and money and still reap the benefit of having the branded guns in their game.

    • reply
      May 8, 2013 4:20 PM

      As long as they can still use branded names that's nbd. I seriously dislike having fake gun names for real guns, though.

      • reply
        May 8, 2013 4:39 PM

        Yeah, playing my video games I need 'real' guns, not 'fake' ones.

        • reply
          May 8, 2013 5:37 PM

          Majority of fps now are just gun porn. Its just not the same when the tits are fake.

      • reply
        May 8, 2013 10:30 PM

        BF3 would benefit from having fake gun names for the majority of weapons as the huge number of guns with just letter/number combinations means non gun buffs have no real clue what any of them are.

    • reply
      May 8, 2013 5:05 PM

      Note: They only had the license for a weird Medal of Honor marketing thing, and only for a year or so. This isn't really much of a story.

      • reply
        May 8, 2013 5:34 PM

        But guns = hits!!!!!

      • reply
        May 8, 2013 6:16 PM

        It's an interesting commentary on how EA tried to make the Medal of Honor modern military franchise look "more authentic" with weapon branding, only to have it backfire. They also propped it up with a charity. Between this and the Zero Dark Thirty tie-in, there was a ton of shameless marketing for Medal of Honor: Warfighter, while the final product, the GAME, was a bad quality product.

        Compare to Activision's Call of Duty studios, who use military designations for all the weapons (M4, M1911, G36), or designation-esque codenames (i.e.: "W1200" for Winchester 1200 shotgun, or "R700" for Remington Model 700 bolt-action rifle).

        • reply
          May 9, 2013 11:59 AM

          Actually, starting with W3, Call of Duty has had a TON of branding on their guns. The 870 MCS is actually the Remington model, and named it in-game. The EOtech sights are actually branded as such. Instead of calling it a holographic sight, it's just called "EOtech" in the attachments menu, and has the logo on the side.

          • reply
            May 9, 2013 12:00 PM

            MW3* No idea why the M didn't register...

    • reply
      May 8, 2013 7:02 PM

      Now if they only can drop the NFL liscense

    • reply
      May 8, 2013 8:10 PM

      [deleted]

      • reply
        May 9, 2013 9:40 AM

        ^^Yup, the reuters article is very misleading

    • reply
      May 8, 2013 9:13 PM

      What a coincidence! I dropped all EA purchases. EA is so user-hostile, I won't be buying from them for a good long time.

    • reply
      May 9, 2013 7:02 AM

      Gotta love the faux social indignation from EA. Political correctness amok. No surprise in this day and age.

Hello, Meet Lola