A.K.A.-47

Isn't that a Remington sniper rifle?

In some computer games and RPGs, you get real guns with fake names. They have the appearance and the characteristics of the real gun, but not the name.

The reason appears to be avoiding potential lawsuits from the manufacturers of said firearms; it's a lot easier to prove a trademark infringement over a name than over the unique likeness of a weapon, and many companies haven't trademarked the latter anyway. There's also the issue of editorial control; much as car companies can dictate that vehicles in videogames not be shown crashing or being damaged as a requirement for licensing, gun companies could potentially demand their weapons only be shown in certain situations as a requirement for inclusion of their trademarks. Oddly, this often happens even with guns with which trademark issues wouldn't be relevant, whether because they're so old that trademarks have lapsed or because their developers went out of business.

In recent times, the likenesses of firearms have also been subject to this trope. The high level of graphical detail that modern computer games are capable of has caused some to fear that gun companies could take legal action on likenesses alone, regardless if a game uses fake names. Visual examples can range from minor embellishments to entirely fictional firearm models, the latter of which is typically done by merging visual elements from several real-life firearms into one design^note these are often derogatorily termed "Frankenguns" by firearm enthusiasts. In any case, the statistical behavior of these fictional guns are often closely modeled after real-life examples.

A subtrope of Bland-Name Product. Compare Improperly Placed Firearms. Often avoided by setting games in World War II or earlier, since most trademarks associated with weapon names from that period have long since lapsed. Can often overlap with Misidentified Weapons. When this is done with cars, see Fauxrrari.

---

Examples (Video Games):

Action Games

• ANNO: Mutationem: In the Mysterious Console DLC, there are multiple weapons given the names of "M95 Sniper", the "MP7", the "QBZ95 SMG", all of which are based on actual sniper rifles, assault firearms and submachine guns.
• Devil May Cry series:
  • In Devil May Cry, the "Grenadegun" grenade launcher resembles the Milkor MGL.
  • In Devil May Cry 2, Dante can pick up a FIM-92 Stinger missile launcher which is simply named "Missile Launcher", and a pair of Heckler and Koch MP5Ks which are simply named "Submachine Guns".
  • The "Spiral" in Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening is actually a Lahti L-39 anti-tank rifle.
• From Brigador, there are 5 weapons that are based on real life guns (although only 3 are explicitly stated to be pre-space weapons), namely "Carlos" (the Carl Gustaf recoilless rifle), "Mãe Dois" (the M2 Browning heavy machine gun), "Abbot" (the Royal Ordnance L7 tank gun, although its name references the FV433 Abbot self-propelled gun), "Bonesaw" (the MG 42, a.k.a. "Hitler's Buzzsaw"^note The Bonesaw is mentioned to have undergone a name change In-Universe due to the previous name referencing some old regime. As well, despite the name, the 7.92x57mm Mauser cartridge fired by the MG 42 is usually referred to as an 8mm cartridge, just like what the Bonesaw fires) and "König" (the GAU-8 Avenger autocannon).

Battle Royale Games

• Zig-zagged in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds; several weapons are named exactly how they are in Real Life, but others have slightly modified names. Some shotguns, revolvers, and pistols have an "S", "R" or "P" to denote their weapon class. The name changes include:
  • S1897 = Winchester Model 1897
  • S686 = Beretta 686
  • S12K = Saiga 12K
  • Win94 = Winchester Model 1894
  • P1911 = M1911
  • P92 = Beretta 92F
  • R1895 = Nagant M1895
  • R45 = Chiappa Rhino 60DS.
  • M416 = HK416
  • P18C = Glock 18C

First-Person Shooter

• Most games based around the James Bond franchise.
  • Practically every gun in GoldenEye (1997) uses either a generic name or a different name. For example: The "PP7" is the Walther PPK, the "RC-P90" for the FN Herstal P90, and the "Klobb" (which is a rename from "Spyder" due to trademark issues) was based on the Škorpion vz. 61.
  • In all of the EA 007 games they used fake names that were ridiculously close to the real ones, particularly the "Wolfram P2K" (for the Walther P99, originally under the PK9 name in Tomorrow Never Dies). The World Is Not Enough is a particularly noteworthy case, as the guns have different names even across the two different versions of the game - the PS1 version used names like "Koffler & Stock" for the Heckler & Koch weapons and called its Desert Eagle an "IAC Defender", while the N64 version called its H&K weapons "Deutsche" and its Desert Eagle a "Raptor Magnum". Both sets were later reused for the next two games, the PS1 names in Agent Under Fire and the N64 ones in NightFire.
  • Averted in Everything or Nothing, as all the guns have their real names (e.g. P99 instead of P2K).
  • Interesting variation in Quantum of Solace: The Walther guns, the P99 and WA2000, keep their original names due to an endorsement deal between Walther Arms and the Bond films, as does the M14 for some reason. Most of the rest of the guns in the game are named in the form of Continuity Nods to previous Bond films - for instance, the Glocks are the GF17/GF18, the M1911 is the CR1911, the M4 is the TND-16, the AKS-74U is the FRWL, and the M60 is the 8-CAT. And, strangely enough, the Dragunov is called the V-TAK in singleplayer, but in multiplayer is referred to as the WA2000. More here.
  • GoldenEye's 2010 remake kind of zigzags with this trope; as with the above, the P99 and WA2000 keep their real names, as does the AK-47, but every single other gun has almost entirely made up names, like the SCAR being the "Kallos-TT9", the M4 as the "Terralite III", the MP5 and MP5k being respectively the "Sigmus 9" and "Sigmus", the USAS-12 being the "Masterton M-557", etc.
  • The follow up game, 007 Legends, uses the same naming scheme as the GoldenEye remake - the P99, WA2000, and AK retain their names, all the guns returning from GoldenEye keep the fake names they had there, while all the new guns - even Walther's older PPK, which is now the "Bennetti TC32" - have new fake names like the "STK-21 Commando" (AUG), "Tec-Fire RF30" (Kel-Tec PMR-30), "Faroh M55" (M14), and, as a Call-Back to classic GoldenEye, the "KL-033 Mk2" (Skorpion).
  • The homage game Agent 64 Spies Never Die proudly follows on the tracks of its forefathers, with names like "Sparrow G5" and "Viper Mk1".
• Special mention to a small tactical shooter known as Zero Hour, as can be seen here, the game uses a number of custom names; from the Desert Eagle called the "Falcon .50" to the MP7 known as the "Rattler" to, weirdly, a dolled up Uzi Pro going by "MAC-10", a completely different gun. But best of all is the Glock renamed to the "Mock 17", which sounds like an alternate name for this very trope page.
• The Ballistic Weapons mod for Unreal Tournament 2004 does this for several weapons. Some have noticeable changes, from as simple as the XK2 submachine gun resembling an MP5 with an ambidextrous charging handle/ejection port, to the M46 assault rifle bearing some resemblance to an AR-15 derivative mashed together with the barrel assembly of an FN SCAR and a reversed forward assist repurposed into a charging handle, or the D49 revolver being a Colt Anaconda with a second barrel in place of the guide rod; others don't even really bother, like the M50 assault rifle being an M4 only missing its forward assist, the GRS9 being a Glock 19 with slightly more rounded edges and a fictional anti-personnel laser under the barrel, the SRS rifles being Mk 14 Mod 0s, or the XRS10 machine pistol and RS8 handgun being straight copies of the AB-10 and S&W 1006.
• The Battlefield series tends to avoid this trope, going so far as to use transliterated names like "SVU Snaiperskaya" in Battlefield: Bad Company 2.
  • Battlefield 3 does get inventive with abbreviations such as "ACW-R" and "PDW-R" for the Magpul/Bushmaster ACR and PDR, and "M5K" for the Heckler & Koch MP5 Kurz.
  • Battlefield 4 also renames certain weapons such as the SRR-61 (M200 Chyetec Intervention^*Most likely a reference to the Jordanian 61st Special Reconnaissance Regiment, a notable user of the weapon), the DAO-12 (Armsel Striker, the weapon being a recurring one across the series going by that name), JS2 (Jian-She Type-05) and the AWS (Ares Shrike), while also shortening abbreviations like the AR-160 (Beretta ARX-160), the U100 MK 5 (Ultimax 100 Mark 5) and the Groza-4 and -1 (OTs-14-4A and OTs-14-4A-03 Groza respectively).
  • The Dragon's Teeth DLC for Battlefield 4 adds the Desert Eagle, referred to in game as the "Deagle 44". Still sounds better than "Bald Eagle".
  • Even Battlefield 1 has some examples despite its World War I setting, most glaringly the Browning Auto 5, referred to in game as the "12g Automatic". Ditto for the Beretta M1918, which became the "Automatico M1918".
• Curiously inverted at times in Black - while all the gun names are real, many of the models are heavily modified to the point that they probably wouldn't fire at all in the real world (a particularly infamous one is the Uzi with a second charging handle on the left side, to make up for the original top handle being blocked by rails). The Glock is one of the more notable exceptions, for licensing reasons.^note The Glock company is rather protective of their name and their likeness, insisting that AKA'd Glocks in games also change the appearance so that it isn't identical to the real pistol; since the game calls it by its real name, it also models it properly.
• Brink! has some guns that are obvious expies of real weapons. For example, the Colt M1911 is renamed the 'Kalt', Steyr TMP is 'Tampa', and Knight's Armament ChainSAW is 'Chinzor'. Others have names based after real weapons, but more closely resemble other guns. The 'FRKN-3K' appears to be named after the FN F2000, but more closely resembles the FAMAS, while the 'Sea Eagle' is named after the Desert Eagle, but modeled on the Smith & Wesson Sigma. Others have pun-based names, like the SIG AR 'Rhett'. Some reference pop culture, like a revolver named 'Ritchie' after Revolver (2005)'s director, Guy Ritchie. The others reference the inventors of their real-world counterparts or features of their design, like Eugene Stoner's Armalite AR-15 named 'Euston', and a gatling gun named 'Gottlung'.
• Most Call of Duty games avert this trope, other than replacing the small print on the guns themselves with more self-referential text (such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's Colt Anaconda having "BRAD ALLENCONDA", a reference to one of the people who modeled the in-game version, written on its barrel), and an insistence on referring to revolvers generically by the bullet they fire (e.g. while Call of Duty: Black Ops was able to call Colt's Python by that name, World at War's S&W Model 27 is the ".357 Magnum", and Modern Warfare 2 and 3 have the aforementioned Anaconda as the ".44 Magnum"). Black Ops II, however, zig-zags the trope; several of the guns in the game are real weapons and known by either their real names or variations thereof, others are Perfect Dark-like "futurised" versions with made-up names. The TDI Kard pistol is given a full-auto mode and called the "KAP-40", the Jian She Type-05 is given an FMG-9-like railed carry handle/flashlight and called the "Chicom CQB", and the ubiquitous XM8 was also given rails and called the "M8A1".^note This is likely more a result of, by the time of Black Ops 2, the XM8 being adopted to replace the M16 series in-universe, in which case the "X" (which stands for "Experimental") would be dropped from its name.
  • The first Black Ops had some weapon-renaming going on already, once inexplicably (the Beretta 682 referred to as the "Olympia", a similar weapon from a different company), and twice for intimidation value (the handheld M134 Minigun as the "Death Machine" and the M202 FLASH as the "Grim Reaper"; notably however, characters will still refer to the latter by its real name in singleplayer mode). Black Ops II keeps some of the intimidating names, like the GAU-19/A being the new "Death Machine" and an M32 revolver-grenade launcher as the "War Machine".
  • This seems to be a trend in more recent Call of Duty titles starting from 2019's Modern Warfare, between Activision trying to distance themselves from the US gun lobby and the devs' home state of California passing a law against marketing real firearms to children (with any video game depiction of directly-named and correctly-modeled weapons considered in violation of that law), requiring not only fake names but, at least as of MWII, stylized models as well. This leads to further A.K.A.-47-ification of even the more familiar firearm names, such as the Barrett M82 being renamed to the "Rytec AMR" in MW19, the Remington 700 as the "Pelington 703" in Black Ops Cold War and the Kalashnikov rifles being called "Kastov" in MWII. Interestingly, this came right at the same time as a noticeable bump in the modeling and animation quality, so these not-quite-correct and renamed models have a surprisingly high level of attention to detail compared to the correctly-named and directly-modeled weapons of the previous Modern Warfare trilogy.
• Counter-Strike, for almost every gun (the MAC-10 is the only real exception, as its designers had gone bankrupt long before CS existed); the real names can be found if you look at the console, though. Also, there's a patch that replaces the fake names with the actual names; the "Maverick Carbine", for example, becomes the "Colt M4A1". Interestingly enough, the real names were used in the Half-Life mod version, but not the retail stand-alone product. Probably a key difference is that the mod was free, but the retail Counter-Strike wasn't.
  • Mostly averted in Global Offensive. Most guns are called by their actual names (although without the weapon manufacturers), with the exceptions of the Mk. 18 Mod 0 (which is the "M4A4", a series number for the M4 carbine that doesn't exist), sawed-off Remington 870 (simply the "Sawed-Off Shotgun"), the Taser (the "Zeus x27", as Taser is a brand-name), the Arctic Warfare (which retains its infamous "AWP" moniker from the old days of HLCS) and the FN SSR (the SCAR-20, combining the name of its parent firearm and its USSOCOM designation of Mk. 20).
• Cry of Fear does this interestingly: the names for the guns it does this to aren't fake, but rather, for the most part, refer to a different model than is actually present. One specifically brought up in an interview was regarding the MP9, which was in earlier versions of the game referred to as the earlier TMP (and kept that way for the release just to troll the people who complained about it). Other cases include the assault rifle, which is alternately referred to as the "Stag Arms AR-15" (a real civilian rifle) and the "M16" (the US military designation for the weapon); appropriately, the in-game weapon is a hybrid of the two (no bayonet lug and the non-safe setting on the fire selector is simply "FIRE" rather than "SEMI", but it has the M16A2's burst-fire capability and fixed carry handle). There's also the Glock, which is identified as the slightly shorter Glock 19, and is given the 15-round capacity of that version, but is otherwise for all intents and purposes a straight digital copy of the more famous, full-sized Glock 17. Some other weapons simply go for somewhat-generic names, such as the scoped Lee-Enfield simply called the "Hunting Rifle", or the Taurus Model 605 going as the "Taurus .357 Magnum".
• In Crysis the Korean FY-71 is a reference to the family of painfully-obvious AK-47 knockoffs produced by countries like China; in this case, though, the FY-71 is an obvious knockoff of the Russian AK-74M reverse-engineered by a fictional North Korean arms manufacturer called Bauer & Kopka (whose name likewise is a parody of the real life German arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch). To a lesser extent we also have the FELINE, which smacks more than a little of the similarly-named FELIN version of the FAMAS.
  • Subverted by the SCAR and SCARAB, which are not direct references to the FN SCAR, but rather intended to be Original Generation guns which combine design elements from the prototype SCAR and the XM8 into a unique weapon system.
• Far Cry:
  • The original game zigzags with this trope. About half the weapons in the game avert this - the MP5, P90, OICW and Jackhammer go by their real names. Others go for generic names - the Accuracy International is simply the "Sniper Rifle", the M249 the "Machine Gun", and the fictional, M202-inspired rocket launcher is the "Rocket Launcher" (in the Classic Updated Re-release, the rocket launcher is instead the "RLX-9157", after text printed on the original game's model). A few more go for almost-correct names, such as the Colt Model 727 from the original referred to as the newer M4, the MP5 with a detachable suppressor in Classic being referred to as the integrally-suppressed "MP5SD", and the G36 with AG36 grenade launcher named after the launcher rather than the rifle. The only fictional name in both versions of the game is the Desert Eagle, here called the "Falcon 357" in the original game and the "Jungle Falcon" in Classic.
    • The console versions, however, go more for this. Instincts in particular goes for generic names for all the guns, with "Handgun" applying to both the Desert Eagle and the Beretta 92, the "Carbine" being a tricked-out M4, etc., alongside an "Assault Rifle" that is some sort of bizarre mishmash of parts from several different designs that vaguely resembles a full-size M16.
  • Far Cry 2 plays with this. It mostly gives its weapons real names (with the exception of a Desert Eagle called the "Eagle.50", and a generic pump-action shotgun named the "Homeland 37" as if it's an Ithaca; there are also some misidentified weapons, like the FAL and G3 referred to as their shorter-barreled models, and an M16-inspired conglomerate named after an obscure 7.62mm predecessor to the AR-18), but the manufacturer names are generally not the real-life makers of each gun. Some are marked as having been made by "Precision Armaments", a company that makes firearm accessories in real life, not complete weapons.
  • Far Cry 3 and 4 generally go for names that are either close to but not quite their real names, or lesser-known/rarely-used names for the gun. The M1A SOCOM 16 and FAMAS F1 are cut down to "MS16" and "F1", the "AK-47" is actually a modified AK-103, the Makarov PB goes by its GRAU index number of "6P9", the "A52" in 4 is actually the Galil ACE 53 (in 3 it was simply the "ACE"), and the SG 553 goes by its larger brother's Swiss military designation of "STG-90"; a couple go for simply excising the manufacturer's name, like the TDI Vector, Remington Model 700, and Patriot Ordnance Factory P416.^note Interestingly, the Far Cry 3 P416 model has since been recycled for several other Ubisoft games, but they give it a fake name, calling it the "Goblin" like in the slightly earlier Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. The only flat-out fake name that's not a nickname attached to a Signature weapon is the "MKG", a custom M249 with a bizarre box magazine.
  • Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, in turn, goes full-out for fake names, most of them in reference to sci-fi films, and some entirely fake weapons. The standard pistol is a copy of the Auto-9 from RoboCop (1987) named as the "A.J.M. 9" (named for Alex J. Murphy, the name of the character who became RoboCop), the shotgun is a sawed-down Winchester 1887 named the "Galleria 1991" (named for a location from and the release year of the gun's most famous appearance in Terminator 2: Judgment Day), the Barrett is the "Kobracon" (another RoboCop reference, being mocked up to resemble that film's Barrett-inspired "Cobra Assault Cannon"), and its "Terror 4000" is the barrels of a Minigun mated to the receiver of a Browning M1919 (in reference to the minigun mockup used in the Doom movie).
  • Far Cry 5 continues the trend. The "A-99" (a Tec-9), "MS16" (now modified into a proper M14) and "SA-50" (a GM6 Lynx) from Far Cry 4 make a return, the MAC-10 takes up the "SMG-11" name it was also given in Rainbow Six: Siege, the .50 caliber "MBP .50" is a Desert Tactical HTI, and the "AR-C" is a conglomerate of various AR-15 parts named similarly to the ACR. Amusingly, the AK is actually more correctly-named this time, with an older AKM going as simply the "AK", while more tricked out variations go by "AK-M".
• A few of the guns in The Finals have names completely unrelated to their real-life counterparts — the MP5A3 is referred to as the "XP-54", the M1A SOCOM 16 is the "LH1", the Taurus Raging Bull is the "R.357" (despite being modeled after a .44 Magnum Taurus), and the Laugo Alien is the "V9S". Most of the guns, however, either bear their real-world names, such as the AKM, Model 1887, M60, and Lewis Gun, or have names with a passing resemblance to their actual ones, like the MGL32, FCAR, and M11.
• In First Encounter Assault Recon, several guns are renamed and often modified versions of real firearms: the G2A2 is a fully automatic lookalike of the H&K SL8 (a semi-automatic sporting rifle) with an M14 rear sight, the RPL is a combination of the MP5A3 and the Special Weapons MP10, the SM15 is based on the OA-93, the AT-14 is a USP40 with a bigger magazine, the VK-12 is more or less identical to the SPAS-12, and the ASP rifle is a carbon copy of the TAR-21 re-chambered for 7.62mm NATO. The games go a step further and give the guns their own in-universe manufacturers, with names that are very distinct from their real life ones^*Franchi, producers of the SPAS-12, and Heckler & Koch, designers of the USP40 and the SL8, aren't even remotely similar-sounding to Vollmer (producer of the VK-12) or Rakow (makes the AT-14 and the G2A2), respectively, many of which also double as Shout-Outs to Monolith's earlier Shogo: Mobile Armor Division, since most such company names were originally mentioned in that game (e.g. Vollmer also made the nearly-identical "GA-14" shotgun, and most of the rocket launchers are attributed to the same Andra that made the "Predator" MCA). F.E.A.R. 2 continues this - in particular, its "Seegert ACM46" pistol is yet another USP - though generally trends more towards hybrids of different guns (the "Patten PK470" looks somewhat like an M4 with XM8-esque furniture and a G36-style exposed gas block) or noticeably changing up the models (the "Andra FD99" resembles a P90 with the magazine and grip shifted back, and the part above the magazine is also lengthened and, like some early fictional P90s, hinged) while making the straight copies into energy weapons (the F2000-alike works like the BFG10k, with its unique batteries sliding into the EGLM-shaped handguard). Its multiplayer also had an example similar to the above-mentioned GoldenEye guns in Perfect Dark: the ASP rifle returns, unchanged except for a smaller magazine capacity and a semi-auto mode, as the "Kohler & Boch IDW-15 Semi-Auto Rifle". F.3.A.R. as well continues the trend, though there's one interesting inversion: one of the weapons is named the "G3A3", but it's not because it in any way resembles the Heckler & Koch battle rifle, actually sharing design details with the Bushmaster ACR and TDI Vector - rather, it's named that way because it is the game's successor to the above G2A2.
• Zig-zagged by the Left 4 Dead franchise. The first of the series uses vague and ambiguous names for all its weapons, such as "Hunting Rifle" (a Ruger Mini-14) and "Auto Shotgun" (Benelli M4), even though they clearly are modeled after real-life firearms. The second game and DLC introduces a few correctly named guns (such as renaming the generic "Assault Rifle" to an M16, introducing an AK-47 and M60, and keeping [mostly] correct names for the Counter-Strike weapons), but still insists on using nondescriptive names with genericized textures for the others (such as the SCAR-L as the "Combat Rifle", the MGS90 as the "Sniper Rifle", the SPAS-12 as the "Combat Shotgun" and the Desert Eagle as a generic "Magnum").
• Nerves of Steel downplays this, with the most recurring automatic firearm going unnamed in the actual game but very clearly being some variety of AK - between the setting in a South-East Asian country ruled by a dictatorship and the fully-hooded sight visible on the gun when you use it, it's obviously a Chinese Type 56.
• The No One Lives Forever series uses this, with the exception of the M79 grenade launcher in the first game and the AK-47. Oddly, for several of the first game's guns, their full names only obscure their real manufacturer in this manner, while the actual gun's name itself is left unaltered, like the "Shepherd Arms P38" pistol, "Hampton MPL" submachine gun and "Geldmacher SVD" sniper rifle (the latter, at least, being named after a developer). There's also the Thompson, which is properly referred to in NOLF2 as the "M1921-A1 SMG", then in Contract J.A.C.K. gets generically renamed to the ".45 SMG".
• In PAYDAY 2... pretty much every gun. A specific example would be the Thompson Submachine Gun, renamed as the Chicago Typewriter. A fair few go for extended or translated versions of their real names - the G3 is the "Gewehr 3", the AUG is the "UAR"^note Universal Army Rifle, translated from Armee Universal Gewehr, and the M249 and FN MAG are the "KSP" and "Ksp 58"^note Kulspruta, the Swedish word (more literally "bullet-sprayer") and military designation for machine guns like the M249 (the developers are Swedish) - in fact, the Swedish versions of the MAG actually are designated the KSP 58. There's also the rare weapon that isn't renamed, like the RPK.
• PAYDAY 3 continues the tradition, giving alternate names to the variety of weapons on offer and notably renaming Tasers to Zappers, as a consequence of the name "Taser" being trademarked by Axon.
• Perfect Dark mostly avoided this by using made-up weapons from the future that at best only vaguely resemble existing weapons (including RoboCop's sidearm under a different name), with only a few unmodified real-world weapons like the Colt Double Eagle (as the Falcon 2) and the Steyr TMP (as the CMP-150). Confusingly, one Cheat Code let you use weapons from its spiritual precursor GoldenEye, which had their names changed again for legal reasons.
  • Perfect Dark Zero flips things around, with fewer totally-fictional sci-fi guns and more real-world ones with new names, such as the P9-P (Walther P99), DW-P5 (H&K MP5), an older version of the Superdragon (modified H&K G36K with an AG36 grenade launcher), and FAC-16 (Colt Model 727 with M203 grenade launcher); even its Plasma Rifle looks like a FAMAS G1 with a few LEDs stuck on it. Oddly, the M60 machine gun keeps its real-life name.
• A form in the early Rainbow Six games — while the weapons' model names/numbers are kept, as of Rogue Spear's "Black Arrow" expansion, references to their manufacturers are removed (with the exception of some logos on the guns themselves). The sole exception is the Five-Seven in Rainbow Six 3, which (along with featuring an external hammer the real gun doesn't have) is called the "AP Army", presumably due to licensing issues that also saw FN's guns renamed in the concurrent early Splinter Cell games. The XM8 in the Vegas games also dropped the X from its name, implying it was successfully adopted in the Rainbow Six universe. Siege mostly continues this, though the occasional fake name sneaks in, from the MAC-11 being redubbed the "SMG-11" as in other contemporary Ubisoft releases to a hybrid of several over/under shotgun designs being named the "BOSG.12.2"; other cases are misidentifying one gun as a different version of the same, such as the Spetsnaz operators' PM being referred to as the newer double-stacked PMM.
• Both Receiver and Receiver 2 avert this. All weapons are known by their real names and (if they have one) military designations.
• Serious Sam 3: BFE: The pistol with the looks (and only the looks) of a Desert Eagle is called "SOP38", for "Special Operations Pistol of 2038", and according to Sam when he first picks it up, it's made by Smith & Wesson. The pimped out HK416 is the "M29" (named similarly to the M27 IAR, a version of the HK416 that was soon to be adopted by the US Marine Corps at the time; it even has a lower rate of fire mirroring rumors at the time that the real M27 would fire slower than the base HK416), while the MAS FR F2 goes by the "Raptor 16mm" name taken from the more generic sniper rifle of previous games and the Norinco Type 97-2 shotgun with M1014-ish sights goes as simply the "shotgun". The rest are either named and modeled generically (the double-barreled "Coach Gun"), or are given specific names but are themselves entirely fictional (the XPML21 Rocket Launcher, XL2 Laser Gun, and AS-24 "Devastator" Grenade Launcher).
  • Serious Sam 4 keeps this up, using many of the same names but for new models; the generic "Shotgun" is now a Mossberg 590 (with an optional GP-25 grenade launcher), the "M29" is now a Mk 18 (with toggle option in the Deluxe edition to turn it into the classic Tommy Gun), and the "Raptor 16mm" is now a Barrett M107.
• Although most of the Sniper: Ghost Warrior series avoids this (other than mislabeling the Mk 12 SPR in the first game as the larger-caliber SR-25), the third game goes all out with this, such as an M1911 named the "M1984", a Beretta M9 named the "Garret M9", etc. Special shout-out to the AK literally called an "AKA-47" (even the IMFDB page for the game makes note of how appropriate the name is). The fourth game also keeps this trope, including the "AKA-47", which is also lampshaded by its IMFDB page.
• Soldier of Fortune used lots of obvious real-world guns that were given either flatly descriptive names (such as calling what is clearly a SPAS-12 simply the "shotgun") or fake ones, such as "Silver Talon" in lieu of Desert Eagle and "Black Panther" for some variety of Glock.
  • Soldier of Fortune 2 featured real-life gun names, but the Gold Edition brought back favorites like 1's Silver Talon.
  • Soldier of Fortune: Payback uses a mix of real names and fake or generic names for its guns. For example, the M16 is referred to as such, but the Desert Eagle is simply a ".50AE", and the FN SCARs are now the TCW-L and TCW-H.
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has a variety of weapons, ranging from semi-antique to state-of-the-art, which are given obscure alternate names, though they exist in real life (for the most part). Examples: the AK-74 becomes the "AKM-74/2", the AKs-74u is the "AKM-74/2U", the AN-94 Abakan is the "Obokan" or the "AC-96/2", the Franchi SPAS-12 is the "SPSA14", and so on. Originally, all weapons were intended to have accurate names and this is reflected in the files and textures (sans Shadow of Chernobyl, which has genericized textures), and certain mods restore them.^note In a more meta example, most such mods erroneously change the "Chaser 13"'s name to the Winchester Model 1300 because of its name in the game files - it's actually a Mossberg Maverick 88.
• Averted in The Stalin Subway (and it's sequel, Red Veil), which features the actual AK-47 that the game identifies as "Kalashnikov Machine Carbine, Ak-47 Class". Both games were set in 1950s Moscow, after all.
• The TimeSplitters series uses both AKA 47 names and real gun names in about equal measure. You can shoot someone with a Luger pistol in TimeSplitters 2, but the AK-47 is referred to as the "Soviet S-47". In TimeSplitters Future Perfect, they drop the real names — the Lugers are Krugers, and the S-47 is the Soviet Rifle. Most of the weapons have generic names — Shotgun, Pistol 9mm, etc.

MMOs

• Entropia Universe, despite being set far in the future, provides players with guns made by Meckel & Loch (a play on Heckler and Koch) and Starkhov (the Starkhov rifles are even clearly patterned after the AK-47 and similarly named).
• Some of the weapons in All Points Bulletin are fictional, but the barely-modified G36C is named "STAR 556", the H&K USP is named "Obeya FBW", the AK-47 is named "N-TEC 5" and the Desert Eagle is named "ACT 44".
• City of Heroes allows for Thugs and Dual Pistols players to customize the appearance of their right and left pistols individually. The plainly named "Semi Auto" model is clearly a Desert Eagle clone. They do however use the real names for the Colt Navy, Colt Model 29, and Uzi options.
• Firefall replaces weapons such as the FN P90 submachine gun with charmingly-named clones like the "Carnage Septu Slayer-Grade".
• Foxhole uses generic names for its weapons, like the SMG, pistol, rifle, etc. However the storm rifle is an advanced 7.92mm rifle capable of selective semi- and full-automatic fire — aka, the famous Sturmgewehr 44 assault rifle.
• Wolf Team: And how. AKEI-47, EM-16, EF-2000...

Political Sims

• Suzerain has a brief subplot involving KA-74 assault rifles being smuggled into your country- literally just AK-47 backward.

Real-Time Strategy

• Zigzagged in Tower Defense game Alien Shooter TD. The game will use real-life weapons such as the Mini-Uzi and Steyr Aug and call them by their actual names, but some real-life weapons did get their names altred. One example is the sniper rifle known as a Martlet. The Martlet rifle is actually the SVD-63.
• The Soviet Conscripts in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 are armed with ADK-45 assault rifles, which look an awful lot like AK-47s. Makes sense, as this is an Alternate Universe.
  • Interestingly enough, Boris in the Red Alert 2 Expansion Pack Yuri's Revenge is stated to be armed with an AKM. However, since the third game suffers from yet another case of Alternate Universe, it is possible that a similar assault rifle was developed by someone else 2 years earlier than in our universe.
  • Averted for the basic infantry in Red Alert 2, however; while their firearms are never named in-game, the manual and other outside sources identify them as using M60s (Allied G.I.) and PPSh-41s (Soviet Conscript).
  • Nod infantry in the the original game are stated to be armed with M16s and M4s. Meanwhile, GDI minigunners are given Calico rifles referred to as "GAU-3 Eliminators". Command & Conquer: Renegade replaced these with, of all things, a renamed M41A pulse rifle. This is likely due to the Tiberian Sun influences in Renegade, where basic infantry on both sides were armed with an "M16 Mk. II Pulse Rifle" - one GDI variant of which was, in some cutscenes, represented by M41A props (the more common one was the similar M590 assault rifle originally created out of a Mini-14 for Space: Above and Beyond).
• In Jagged Alliance: Back in Action, certain guns have slightly different manufacturer names but retain the correct model number. Examples include the Klock (Glock) 17 and the W&S (Smith & Wesson) Model 29.

Roguelikes

• Enter the Gungeon does indeed feature the classic AK-47 ("Accept no substitutes"), against which the devs balanced bosses and other guns as the standard. There are a few other assault rifles you can obtain that take inspiration from the AK: the JK-47 ("Substitute"), the VertebraeK-47, and the AKEY-47.

Role-Playing Games

• Every single one of the guns in Alpha Protocol is a real weapon, from the Glock pistols to the H&K submachine guns. However, for licensing reasons, the names of every single gun are changed. Glock weapons are now Samael weapons, any Russian weapon is designated UC, including the AK-47, and so on.
• Fallout:
  • Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas give real-world and slightly-fictionalized guns generic names like "Assault Rifle" (H&K G3), "Assault Carbine" (Colt 733), "Battle Rifle" (M1 Garand), "Service Rifle" (AR-15), "Anti-Materiel Rifle" (PGM Hecate II) and many more.
  • Only Fallout 2 and the Broad Strokes canon Fallout Tactics avert this by specifically using the real names for modern-day guns, and even then, the Alternate History aspect of the series means that many have fictionalized background information, such as a different manufacturer or caliber of ammunition. For example, the P90 is called by its real name (with an added "c" at the end), but fires 10x25mm rounds rather than 5.7x28mm and is said to have been designed by H&K rather than FN.
  • The original Fallout, however, strangely inverts this trope. Not only are all but two^note the Desert Eagle and the Mauser of the game's firearms fictional, but they're described as products of real-life manufacturers. Examples include the Winchester "Widowmaker" double-barrel shotgun, the Winchester "Citykiller" combat shotgun, the Colt 6520 10mm pistol, the Colt "Rangemaster" .223 hunting rifle, the H&K MP9 10mm submachine gun, the Glock 86 plasma pistol and the Winchester P94 plasma rifle.
  • Fallout 4 and Fallout 76 play this straight, and subvert it. While a lot of the names are generic (a Thompson going by "Submachine Gun", a Volksturmgewehr slathered in glue and tin foil known as the "Radium Rifle", and so on), but both games give you the ability to give guns custom names. So there's nothing stopping you from giving it a proper name, or a custom one.
• Each and every one of Vincent's guns in Final Fantasy VII besides his Infinity +1 Sword has a real life counterpart. In some cases, the names aren't even changed.
• July Anarchy: Prologue is a very weird example of this trope. The firearms are actual modern guns with real names and actual characteristics (damages, number of rounds), but the models aren’t linked to the correct name. For example, the weapon named "Desert Eagle" looks like a suppressed Glock 17, the "Glock 17" itself appearing as a Colt M1911A1.
• Averted in the first and second Parasite Eve but played straight in the third game The 3rd Birthday.
• While most of the weapons in Penny Arcade's On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Part 3 have generic or made-up names, this trope is used humorously with one of the guns available for Tycho, the Thomas Gun.
• While Valkyria Chronicles uses entirely fictional weapons, one very, very familiar gun is present: The Ruhm, which is the German MG 34 with a different paint job.
• Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines both uses fake names and a couple real ones. The Franchi SPAS 15 is called the Jaegerspaz XV, the Uzi is given the ludicrous pseudonym Lassiter Killmatic, and the Glock 17 is called the Brokk 17c. Strangely, the Steyr AUG and Colt Anaconda are called by their proper names. The Utica M37 is a pretty clever pseudonym, since it must have taken some actual research on the part of the developers to discover that Utica is a small town in Upstate New York like the actual weapon's hometown of Ithaca.
  • Both the SPAS-15 and Glock are referred to by their proper names in dialogue, the developers presumably betting that any irritable lawyers wouldn't bother digging that far.

Simulation Games

• Ace Combat uses real-world names for all existing aircraft (with the exception of Ace Combat Advance and Ace Combat: Northern Wings, which use planes with new names that somewhat resemble real-world planes; the F-22 in the first two games is also modeled after a prototype version, the YF-22, rather than the production model). Weapons, on the other hand, are given generic names like UGB (Unguided Bomb, alternatively with suffix S, M, or L depending on size), though missiles are clearly modeled on real-life weapons, like the F-14 carrying the AIM-54 Phoenix as its version of the "XLAA". Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere sidesteps this by giving the planes enhanced-sounding names, such as EF2000-E Typhoon II (Eurofighter Typhoon), XFA-36A (McDonnell X-36), or F-15S/MT Eagle+. It also helps that, the game being futuristic, there's more room for made-up aircraft.
• Every single weapon in theHunter: Call of the Wild is an AKA-47, likely for the same reason as in Project Wingman.
• Mostly averted in Operation Flashpoint and its successor ARMA. However, one notable case where this was played straight in OFP was the Czech SA Vz.58 assault rifle (a distant cousin of the AK-47 and AKM). It was called "AK-47 CZ". This is all the more odd since the developers are Czechs and virtually every other weapon uses its copyrighted name; they included the weapon again in ARMA II: Operation Arrowhead, this time under its correct name. Some of the civilian vehicles in the game (Trabants, Škodas, Minis and Zetor tractors) also play the trope straight (the rest avert it).
  • ARMA 3 goes for half this trope and half futurized variants of existing weapons. The standard OPFOR pistol is an unmodified MP-443 called the "Rook 40", while their standard assault rifle is the "Katiba 6.5mm" series, somewhat based on the Iranian KH2002 with a lower carrying handle resembling that of the G36C and a smaller magazine. BLUFOR likewise uses an unmodified Walther P99, renamed the "P07", as their sidearm, while their standard weapon is a fictional conglomerate of parts from various weapons like the Remington ACR called the "MX 6.5mm", with suffixes like C for the compact version, SW for the support version, and M for the marksman one. Interestingly, some weapons do go by their real name, like the Gepard GM6 Lynx for CSAT's anti-materiel rifle, the Metal Storm 3GL grenade launcher available for the standard MX rifle, and the various AKs used by the Syndikat faction in the "Apex" DLC. The Marksmen DLC inverts this for the "Mk 14", which is an original M14 with a rail for optics attached; an actual Mk 14 is already in the base game as the "Mk 18".
• The Ace Combat inspired indie game Project Wingman was made by a small team with a small budget. For this reason, the team could not afford the rights to real life aircraft, so they had to make some small adjustments to their designs and their names in order to make them recognizable from their real life counterparts, such as the F/S-15 being clearly based off of the F-15 Eagle, and the SK25 being based off of the Frogfoot.
• In Silent Hunter IV, American planes received generic names ("American dive bomber", sort of) even if the models were clearly Real Life ones that fought in World War II.
• Every Heckler & Koch weapon in SWAT 4 is given a generic label ("9mm submachinegun" for the MP5A4) or a changed name ("Gb36" instead of G36). However, every firearm manufactured by Colt and Benelli is licensed (complete with small-print legalese), and therefore correctly named.
• Being heavily based on Ace Combat, Vector Thrust generally averts this trope as well, with correct real-life names for its aircraft and weapons. It also follows Electrosphere in including fictional variants of some aircraft, like the F-15Z electronic warfare plane, referred to as the "Digital Eagle".

Stealth-Based Games

• The Hitman series initially inverted this in Codename 47, with all weapons except for an older pepperbox-style revolver (called simply the "Derringer") going by their real names, and even including the manufacturer's names in the menu. The demo for the follow-up game Silent Assassin used real names for the guns, but these were changed to generic/false names come full release. Every game released after this has used false names and weapon manufacturers, including the World of Assassination Trilogy, where everything is a corrupted weapon name. Probably the most notable example of playing with this trope in the series is with the AMT Hardballer, as it's renamed to the "Silverballer" in all but the first game, and the models are unique, as they are meant to be 47's custom pistols, rather than a mere rename.
• In the Lupin III game, Treasure of the Sorcerer King, Lupin's trademark Walther P-38 is referred to just as a "Thirty-Eight" for the English release.
• The inexplicable "RK-47" and "SUG" in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.
  • All of the weapons in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain are similarly fictional but with a resemblance to real world weapons, such as the "AM Rifle Type 69", which looks very close to a mix of the M16 with the SAR 80, or the "UN-ARC" (a cross between the FN FAL and H&K G3). This extends to even to vehicles, with the Blackfoot and Krokodil helicopters standing in for the Blackhawk and Hind. This causes a major retcon and continuity inconsistency because the flavor text indicates that this fictional military hardware is standard issue for their respective nations while real, authentic military hardwares are blatantly name-called ever since the first MSX game.
• Splinter Cell:
  • Splinter Cell is undecided on the issue: text files (subtitles included) refer to Sam's rifle as "SC-20K", but when you're ordered to retrieve it in the Langley mission, you can hear Lambert calling it an F2000. It's played more straight with the "SC Pistol", in reality an FN Five-seveN.
  • Conviction uses real names for most guns, including the Five-seveN, but the F2000 is remodeled into a fictional caseless weapon system, including magazines based on the never-produced MR-C, and referred to as the SC-3000. A version utilizing traditional magazines again also appears in Rainbow Six Siege as the SC3000K.

Survival Horror

• Fear & Hunger: Termina: Applies to all of the guns in the game.
  • The Lugr Pistol is obviously the Luger.
  • The Rifle .303 Mk I is meant to be a generic Western European rifle, although its caliber and being magazine-fed, combined with the name, call the Lee-Enfield to mind.
  • The 12-Gauge Trenchgun resembles the Winchester Model 1897 shotgun.
• The original Resident Evil games for the PlayStation (as well as Resident Evil – Code: Veronica) featured plenty of real firearms such as Berettas, Colt revolvers, Remington shotguns among other. Once the series started being released on the GameCube, Capcom decided to use generic names for the weapons: the Beretta was replaced by a custom version called the Samurai Edge (previously introduced in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis), while the Colt Python was renamed the "Silver Serpent" and had its appearance heavily altered to the point that only the cylinder release from the real revolver is recognizable.
• SCP: Secret Laboratory makes heavy use of this:
  • On the Foundation side, the the COM-18 is based off the USP (with the Extended Barrel attachment based on the USP Match) the FSP-9 is based on the MP7 (the "9" in the name referencing it being chambered for 9x19mm rather than 4.6x30mm), the Crossvec is a KRISS Vector (with the Operational Guide implying it to be named after the acronym C.R.O.S.S.^note Short for Compact Response Operative Submachine gun Selection) and the MTF-E11-SR is based on the Maxim Defense MDX series of rifles ("SR" implicitly standing for Service Rifle).
  • The Chaos Insurgency is a bit more irregular. The AK averts this trope by being a mishmash of several different AK-pattern rifles, whilst the Smith & Wesson Model 500 based .44 Revolver and DP-12 based Shotgun play it straight. The H&K MG5 is notable as well, being named the Logicer in-game.
  • Finally, the COM-15 (a handgun implied to have been brought in by a Scientist) is based on the Ruger SR9c, and the Flashbang Grenade is based on the Combined Tactical Systems Model 7290.
• Unturned uses a combination of nondescript names like Zubeknakov, Ace and Maplestrike, generic ones like 1911, and obvious punny references to the real world models, like the Desert Falcon, the Outfield, or the Uzy. A few older weapons like the World War II guns go by their real names, however.

Third-Person Shooter

• Army of Two largely averts this trope, with even the exceptions having some relation to the real weapon (M4 is called the "S-System", after a specific airsoft version of the weapon; the FAMAS G2 is the "Felin 2C", named for the FELIN integrated system based around a modified FAMAS). The Devil's Cartel, however, lacks proper names for a majority of the weapons.
• In The Club, all firearm models were hastily edited during the late beta, turning them into horrid messes, but some are still recognizable: "SP Hornet" is a Steyr SPP submachine gun, "Hammerhead" is the Desert Eagle and "PD9 Black Widow" is a P90 (bit hacked up, though). The most egregious example is most probably "Raptor" rifle, consisting of a G36 stock, AK-47 main body and thick pipe for a barrel.
• darkSector plays this one really weirdly; almost every weapon is a model of one gun, but given a name that looks like it's meant to give this treatment to an entirely different gun (almost always one of Russian origin) that could fill the same role, as if several of the weapons had their models changed midway through development and they couldn't be bothered to make up different names for the new models. Hayden's "Tekna 9mm" is a .45 ACP H&K Mark 23 named after the Vector SR-1 pistol, the "Vekesk Micro" is a Klin PP-9 named after the SR-2 Veresk SMG, and so on. The exceptions are the AKS-74U and RPG-7, which have the right names.
• Freedom Fighters (2003) dodges the issue by giving all its guns totally generic names, like "Assault Rifle" (an AK-103), "Heavy Machine Gun" (a PKM), "Revolver" (Colt Python) and "Shotgun" (SPAS-12).
• Max Payne:
  • Zigzagged in the first game. Some weapons are just given descriptive names like Pump-Action Shotgun and Sniper Rifle, though they are recognizable as real-world weapons (Winchester 1300 and Steyr SSG 69). Other weapons, like the Colt Commando and Ingram, are given alias names inspired by their real counterparts (the Ingram is a MAC-10, which was invented by Gordon Ingram, while "Colt Commando" is a catch-all term for M16-derived carbines before the M4). The Beretta, Desert Eagle, M79 and Jackhammer use their real names.
  • This stays largely the same in the sequel, however the Beretta now joins the Pump-Action Shotgun (which is now modelled after a Remington 870) and the Sniper Rifle (which is a Steyr SSG 69 again) in the generic names group, being named the "9mm Pistol", and the Colt Commando is also now renamed the "M4 Carbine", but this was done to reflect the change in model. The sequel also introduced some misidentified weapons, the "MP5" (which is a full-auto converted HK94, a civilian-marketed version of the MP5) and the "Dragunov" (which is a Romanian PSL, a mechanically unrelated but visually similar rifle). The gun referred to as the "Kalashnikov" is actually a Chinese Type 56, but this is excusable as the Type 56 is a copy of the original Soviet AK-47. These errors may be attributed to the developers modelling guns off those they rented from a movie armoury, as the aforementioned weapons are often used as stand-ins for their more appropriate counterparts in films and TV shows.
  • Usually averted in the third game where most weapons use their real names. In a case of Shown Their Work, some of the weapons are more obscure models than what is normally given in games, since the game takes place in Brazil and thus many of the weapons you find are of South American manufacturing, such as Max trading in his previous-trademark Beretta 92s for similar locally-produced Taurus PT92s. Some A.K.A.s still slip through however, for example the "MPK" (an MP5), "G6 Commando" (a somewhat warped G36), and "Rotary Grenade Launcher" (a DefTech 37mm, which is actually a less-lethal riot-control launcher and not a grenade launcher).
• Resident Evil 4 is a mix, with some guns going by real names or similar (the TMP is called what it is, the C96's "Red 9" moniker is one given to the weapon's 9x19mm version, the Thompson submachine gun goes by its famous "Chicago Typewriter" nickname, etc). Others are half and half for generic names (the Remington 870 as the "Shotgun", the Springfield and SL8 as respectively the "Rifle" and "Semi-auto Rifle", etc) and fictional ones that are mostly Shout-Outs (like a scoped AMT Hardballer as the Killer7, or the VP70M as the "Matilda"). The game also has a few guns made out of several parts of other guns, most famously Leon's starting "Handgun" - a mashup of the S&W Sigma, H&K USP and Ruger P85 semi-unofficially named the "Silver Ghost" - as well as the "Striker" being made up of parts of several of Armsel's shotguns (excluding, ironically, the actual Striker), and the "Broken Butterfly" being a Colt SAA with the Schofield Model 3's top-break mechanism. Resident Evil 5 goes on to use real names for its guns, besides the fictional ones and the very notable exception of the "Lightning Hawk" (obviously a Desert Eagle), but then Resident Evil 6 went back to solely using fake names.
  • Resident Evil 5 did have one other notable example among its weapon cache: the SVD/Cobray Street Sweeper was called the "Jail Breaker" in 5. This one is particularly ironic because, as above, 4 featured a mashup of Armsel shotguns that was actually called the "Striker", and yet in a game where most weapons received proper names, the closest relative to the gun that actually managed to avoid being given a fake name 4 is given one in 5.
• Ride to Hell: Retribution uses this trope, the most notable example being when a late 1960's American army officer presents a taped-up M1 Garand rifle as the state-of-the-art "Albatross A40 rifle".
• The SOCOM series mostly does this. Examples include the HK36 (H&K G36C), IW-80A2 (Enfield SA80), VSV-39 (VSS Vintorez), AG-94 (AN-94 Abakan), and M4-90 (Benelli M4 Super 90). Interestingly, some weapons have their actual names, like the MSG90, AT4, and SR-25.
• The Splatoon series features all manner of unconventional weapons in its arsenal, so it really sticks out when Agent 4's weapon in Splatoon 2 is what appears to be a neon yellow P90. In game, the gun is referred to as the Hero Shot. It shares this name with the gun used by Agent 3 in the original Splatoon, but that one is an earlier model that is far more toylike in design.
• Sunset Overdrive calls its standard assault rifle the "AK-FU".
• While the source material averts it, all the guns in Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet are given fictional names, such as Kirito's Five-Seven now going as the "SPB Night Sky".
• The Syphon Filter series uses a mix of real names, fake names, generic descriptions, and completely fictional guns. Examples: HK5=MP5, 9mm=Glock 17, .45=M1911, G18=Glock 18C, H11=H&K G11, K3G4=G3KA4 (compact version of the G3), BIZ-2=PP-19 Bizon SMG, PK102=AK102, Spyder = Skorpion, etc. They started using more real gun names with Omega Strain, but some gun still had their names changed, such as the AU 3000 (Steyr AUG) and Biz-9 (PP-19 Bizon again).
• Used in the Uncharted games, with only one exception across multiple games (the AK-47 - which, for the record, is also actually an original AK rather than an AKM or Type 56 or whatever) and a small handful of others specific to one game (the FAL in Among Thieves and the ARX-160 in A Thief's End). Some of the made-up names partially allude to the real names, such as the Wes .44 (S&W 629 in .44 Magnum), Desert 5 (Desert Eagle), and SAS-12 (Franchi SPAS-12, incidentally named after an even rarer pump-action-only variant of the real gun).
• All of the firearms in Winback: Covert Operations are generically described real guns. Handgun=Colt M1911, Shotgun=Franchi SPAS-12, Submachine Gun=H&K MP5, Silenced Handgun=Walther PPK, Rocket Launcher=M202 FLASH.

Turn Based Tactics

• Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden: The "Rambino" rifle looks like the FN FAL assault rifle, especially when improved to Level II.
• Phantom Doctrine is all over the place. We have:
  • Guns with their real names, e.g. the M16.
  • Guns with part of their real names, e.g. the BM rifle is the Beretta BM59.
  • Guns with generic names, e.g. the .45 is the Colt M1911.
  • Guns with fake names, some of which reference their real names, e.g. the EIW rifle is the British EM-2; the Estrella submachine gun is the Star Z-62; the Wembley revolver is the Webley.

Sandbox Games

• Played with/acknowledged in State of Decay 2 with the 'Fake A-47'. It's based off the game's .223 hunting rifle, modified with a burst fire setting and an extended clip.
• In The Godfather game almost all weapons have generic descriptors or are Named Weapons, except for maybe the Tommy Gun (the "Python" revolver is actually a Colt Official Police).
• The 'HD-Era' Grand Theft Auto games (GTAIV and V) have also given generic names for their firearms such as "Pistol", "SMG" and "Rifle", only using varied nouns for differentiating weapons of the same class. Examples from V would include the "Assault Rifle" (Norinco Type 56-2), "Carbine Rifle"^note an oxymoron, as 'carbine' and 'rifle' would somehow imply the weapon barrel being both shortened and full-length (customized AR-15) and the "Advanced Rifle" (IMI CTAR-21). The eighth-generation version adds fictitious manufacturer names to the weapon models such as "Shrewsbury", "Hawk & Little" (While obviously named after Winchester and Smith & Wesson, both seems to be specializing reproduction of foreign firearms), and "Vom Feuer" (named after Heckler & Koch) that are visible in first-person view.
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City falls under this as well, with rather generic names for its firearms. Grand Theft Auto III and San Andreas were slightly more willing to use assault rifle names^note though the latter's "AK-47" and "M4" were technically a (comically-oversized) Type 56 and Colt 733, although other weapons were still generically-named. The games also extended this trope from the guns to the vehicles.
  • Vice City was actually much like III and San Andreas' originally in that it did have real names in its first release. It was only after the Bowdlerized "Haitian Friendly" version was released that this trope came into play, turning the Colt Python into the ".357", the Ingram Mac 10 into just the "Mac" and the "Uzi 9mm" as the "Uz-i" to name a few. The Ruger, based on the foldable stock variant of the Ruger Mini-14, was also renamed as the "Kruger" and given an all-grey finish in later releases of the game, also likely due to copyright/trademark issues.
• Mafia III plays this straight will all the guns, with the AK-47 itself being hilariously named "Pasadena AR-30" and it's implied to be American-made in universe, as it's available freely through arms dealers.
• Averted with the first two Mafia games as most of the weapons are vintage firearms anyway.
• Red Dead Redemption uses both real gun names as well as fake names.
• The Saboteur uses this rather haphazardly. Some weapons are given generic names (like 'silenced pistol' or 'automatic shotgun'), some use fictional names (e.g. 'Raum pistol' for a Mauser C96 or 'Kruger' for Luger P'08) some use their popular names ('Tommy Gun') and in some cases the name is left unaltered (MP 40, Panzerschreck).
• The Saints Row games do this with all of their firearms. It's most obvious in the first two games, which mostly settled for near-exact replicas of real weapons under different names, such as the AK renamed the "K6 Krukov" or, humorously, the Desert Eagle going by "GDHC .50", standing for "Goddamn Hand Cannon."
  • Oddly enough, during the final mission against the Carnales in the first game, Dex will actually refer to the AK by its real name.
  • It's also worth noting that the first two games got away with including an A.K.A.'d Glock pistol, something that the Glock company heavily frowns on in real life.
• Watch_Dogs zigzags: some guns use real names names, some guns use modified names based on the real name, some fictional names. Interestingly, a lot of the names, just like the models, tend to be taken from other games by the same publisher:
  • Real names: The ACR, Px4, AK-47, M107.
  • Modified names: the 416 (HK416), 417 (HK417), SMG-11 (MAC-11), 1911 (Kimber Warrior, based on the original M1911), R-2000 (PP-2000).
  • Fictional Names: Goblin (Patriot Ordnance P416), P-9 (SIG-Sauer P250 Compact), Destroyer (Barrett M82).

Examples (Other Media):

Anime & Manga

• An odd inversion happens in Japanese media, mostly anime and video games, probably due to Gundam. The M61 Vulcan and its cousins are specific models of 20mm rotary cannons. But since the original Mobile Suit Gundam treated the word like a gun category, it created the bizarre trend of calling completely original machineguns of any caliber by the name of an existing model, if uncapitalized.

Film

• The "Podbyrin 9.2mm" from Red Heat was a Desert Eagle made to resemble "a P38 on steroids", given wooden grips and a slightly-extended barrel.
• Shoot 'Em Up plays this for plot reasons. In order to have products for the weapons manufacturer Hammerson, Para-Ordinance guns had their labeling filed off and the name "Hammerson" lasered in.
• Many of the weapons in the Star Wars films are just real weapons with bits glued on. This is most apparent in the Original Trilogy, with the Stormtroopers' staple E-11 blaster rifles being modified Sterling Mk IV submachine guns. Han's trademark DL-44 blaster combines parts from an antique Mauser and an MG 81 machine gun with extra "greeblies" glued on to enhance the aesthetic.
• War Dogs curiously uses this for one single model: the Brazilian copy of the Beretta 92 pistol, Taurus PT99, is called "Corvis TP19".
• In William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, guns go by brand names like Sword, Dagger, Rapier and Longsword. This is mostly justified to keep from deviating from Shakespeare's original script.

Literature

• In Johannes Cabal the Detective Cabal normally has a gun that is identified correctly-a Webley Boxer, but when he loses it early in the novel he eventually buys another revolver that is identified only by its caliber: 10.35mm. Its not given a proper name, but given the vague time period of the setting and the equally vague Italian-nature of the country he buys it in (a fictional place called Senza) its most likely a Bodeo Model 1889.
• In The Dark Tower, Roland carries a pair of revolvers from another universe which are implied to be the direct equivalent of a real firearm from our world, but the text avoids specifying which one. Based on the details given, the guns are a perfect match for the Colt New Service (double-action, swing-out cylinders, and chambered in .45 Long Colt) but they're just called the Sandalwood Guns because of their grips, which are made of sandalwood.
• In Dungeon Builder (Maou sama no Machizukuri), a Glock 19 is called "Quartz 19" and a HK-416 is called "MK-416".
• The web fiction Isekai Battle Royale averts this, listing out exact names of the guns in its stat blocks like the MAC-10 and Beretta M9.
• Averted in Sword Art Online, where Sinon wields a 'PGM Ultima Ratio Hecate Ⅱ.'

Live-Action TV

• Battlestar Galactica (2003): The Stallion is actually a COP .357 derringer. It's not the only thing on the series with an unusual similarity to something from Earth. After all, this has all happened before and will all happen again...
• In an episode of Cold Case, a Beretta submachine gun is called a Marietta.
• Law & Order had a trial against the manufacturer of a "Rolf-9" gun, which was an obvious stand-in for the Intratec TEC-9. The issue was that the Rolf-9 was sold as a semi-automatic, but it could be very easily converted to fully automatic, just as the real TEC-9.
• In some episodes of Monk, such as "Mr. Monk and the Three Pies" and "Mr. Monk Is On the Run," there are such things as "Lane & Westen" pistols. When they are shown, they are clearly shown to just be Beretta 92FS pistols under an alternate name. Interestingly, there are other episodes where Beretta pistols appear and are appropriately referred to as Berettas.

Tabletop Games

• Completely averted in historical (even for present day) Wargaming rules - the actual names are always used where the writers have gone to that level of detail. Would make an interesting IP court case (if the writers could actually afford to defend)- "We described the terrorists as using H&Ks because that's what they did."
• Most guns in Arkham Horror go by a very generic name like "rifle" or ".357 magnum". The closest to a real name is the "Tommy Gun", which is a nickname rather than an official designation.
• BattleTech intermixes AKA-47s and Brand X products. Several ground vehicles are quite obviously based on real life vehicles, such as the Chevalier scout tank being one degree of separation away from the South African Army Rooikat, or the Hetzer alleged tank being essentially a World War 2-era Hetzer, but with a bigger gun and wheels instead of caterpillar treads. It's more apparent in the Mechwarrior roleplaying spinoff, which has several weapons that are only very lightly modified like the Gauss SMG, a FN P90 with the magazine located further back along the top and the old magazine location being replaced by magnetic coils, or completely unchanged like the Federated Long Rifle, an AR-15.
• Used in the GURPS Basic Set. All guns are given a basic descriptive name such as "Auto Pistol, 9mm" or "Assault Carbine, 5.56mm". However this isn't meant to be so much deceptive as it is generic; they later gave statistics to dozens of real life firearms.
• Averted in Psionics: The Next Stage in Human Evolution. The game not only lists real guns as weapons, it gives you a brief history of each one.
• The arsenal of a Shadowrun game includes a wide variety of weapons from modern manufacturers with incremented model numbers; AK-97s, Beretta 201s, Browning Ultra-Powers, et cetera.
• Imperial Guard autoguns in Warhammer 40,000 fill the same role as modern-day assault rifles, and look akin to M16s. Heavy stubbers are basically M2 Browning .50 cals. Autopistols resemble Uzis. Artwork often goes even further - there are belt-fed bipod heavy stubbers that could be taken for an MG 42 at first glance, and lasguns and sniper rifles often have features (like large, banana-shaped mags) cribbed from historical weapons. Even the Imperium's standard issue sidearm, the Bolt Pistol, looks an awful lot like an M16 with the stock, handle and most of the barrel snapped off.

Web Animation

• In Remote reads Funny Windows Errors, Microsoft Sam's gun, which looks remarkably like a gold-painted AK-47 assault rifle, is known as the ROFL-47 machine gun.

Web Original

• Happens on wikis based on series where gunplay is prominent enough that the guns get their own pages, though it varies depending on the series. The Left 4 Dead wiki, for instance, prominently discusses the real-world bases of its weapons, while the Call of Duty wiki allows nothing more than a Wikipedia link to the real weapon at the start of each weapon's page, owing to the series' infamy for getting technical details wrong that would make half of that wiki devolve into complaining otherwise.

Real Life

• Back in the day, there were licensed and unlicensed copies of every successful small arm each featuring a new name. Companies didn't want copies of their arms to bear the company name, so foreign manufacturers often had to change the name in order to get a manufacturing license. Ironically the gun that reversed this trend was the Trope Namer, the AK-47. Since the AK was made by a communist country, they didn't care what manufactures called their guns and even encouraged them to use the Red Army's designations, going so far as to prevent Kalashnikov from patenting the weapon to ease up on allowing the other satellite states to manufacture their own.
• All AR-15-pattern rifles made by any company other than Colt have to be marketed by another name. Colt's patent on the gun (which had been purchased from Armalite) has expired but their trademark on the name "AR-15" has not. It was demonstrated in a court case, however, that while Colt owns the trademark for the "AR-15" name, they don't own a trademark on the US military's "M4" designation for specific variants of the AR-15 (they don't even make many of the current-production military AR-15s anymore - FN does); thus, many manufacturers of renamed AR-15 clones will have "M4" in their name or be referred to as "M4-style" weapons.
• During the Clinton-era assault weapons ban, several guns were made illegal by name. This resulted in companies just changing the name they marketed the banned guns under and maybe a feature or two just to be safe. The TEC-9 is a particularly notable example, as when it was banned by name under California's gun laws before the assault weapons ban, Intratec got around it by doing nothing more than changing the name.^note And moving a sling mount, but that hardly changes how the gun looks or works.
• Even when gun companies aren't required to do so for legal reasons, they still sometimes rename guns that are functionally the same, such as Mossberg's Maverick 88 shotgun being virtually identical to their Model 500 outside of the trigger group and safety. This is to make copies of existing guns, or even variations of the company's own existing guns, seem new and exciting when they really are just long established designs with a few (usually cosmetic) changes.
  • Alternatively, to make a budget version of a weapon as a variant. By stripping a few features that are cosmetic or otherwise convenient but unessential, a mechanically equivalent weapon from the same manufacturer can sell for a significant fraction less than the original. Budget-conscious consumers will buy one, whereas those with money to burn or connoisseurs will grab the other. Either way, more sales.
  • Many airsoft guns are based on the real firearm, but with airsoft manufacturer and unique name. For example, the HFC Combat Commander is based on the FN Baby Browning, the AW Custom AW-HX2102 looks like an Arsenal Firearms AF2011A1 if it were made out of two Strayer Voigt Infinity pistols, which is also the basis for the Tokyo Marui Hi-Capa series, the ARES M45X-S and G&G CM16 ARP9 are both somewhat based on the Angstadt Arms UDP-9, LCT's LK-33 is based on H&K's HK33, the Tokyo Marui Sledge Hammer is based on the AA-12, the Tokyo Marui VSR-10 and Amoeba Striker seem to be based on the M24 and Remington 700, and the SRC SM8 is basically the HK XM8.
• In February 2024, Gamespot's Youtube channel posted a deep dive video researching why game designers alter and rename guns that are clearly meant to be real world firearms.

---