Update:

In an interview with Ars Technica, EA spokesperson Jeff Brown has clarified that contrary to this morning's Reuters story, EA has never paid for a license for branded weapons.

The confusion arose from a comment he made to Reuters: "The action games we will release this year will not include licensed images of weapons."

Brown was talking about the appearance of advertisements and links to real-world weaponry stores on its Medal of Honor: Warfighter website, rather than in-game weapons.

He added that "zero money from the manufacturers ever went to EA – all money went directly to the veterans' charity".

"Furthermore, EA has never paid a licensing fee to a gun maker to include their weapons in a game, nor has it been paid by a gun maker to feature its particular weapons."

Please note: in light of this information, the headline of this story has been changed.

Original story:

EA says it will no longer purchase licenses from gun manufacturers that allow it to feature branded weapons in its games.

However, Reuters is reporting the company has said it has the right and the intention to continue featuring said weapons in its games.

EA claimed that politics and recent negative National Rifle Association comments about video games had nothing to do with its decision.

"We're telling a story and we have a point of view," said EA Labels president Frank Gibeau.

"A book doesn't pay for saying the word 'Colt,' for example."

Presumably, EA is assuming that the constitutional free speech right to use trademarks without permission will extend to the use of trademarks in video games.

Whatever the case, the law will soon decide: Bell has argued that EA's depiction of its helicopters in the Battlefield series goes beyond fair use and amounts to a trademark infringement.

EA is suing Bell to settle the issue, and a jury trial will take place in June.

Last August, EA pulled advertisements and links to real-world weaponry stores from its Medal of Honor: Warfighter website following an outcry from the gaming community.

Ads and blog posts on the game's website were linked to sponsors selling weapons that featured in-game, including a custom-built Tomahawk and a sniper rifle.