Battlefield 6 scored a lot of points with series fans when DICE announced that its cosmetics would be “grounded,” defying the norms of an FPS scene inundated with ugly crossover bundles. By the low standards of the time, it’s fair to say the studio has kept its word so far, but some fans think Battlefield 6 is already tumbling down a slippery slope.
On a Battlefield subreddit thread that’s already amassed 11,000 upvotes and thousands of comments, folks are blasting a particular kin spotted in an early build of Season 1, which begins October 18. “Wicked Grin” is a variant of a default NATO assault outfit with a bright blue camo pattern. Its in-game description suggests it’ll be given away as a free store gift.
“‘Grounded skins for a while’— 18 days exactly,” wrote Reddit user Ohforfk. “Colorful weapons with pictures, colorful camos with neon accents, weird mix of things that are supposed to look cool, but end up simply weird.”
“Is it realistic? No. Is it more grounded than Beavis and Butthead, Peter Griffin, Sgt. PsPsPs, Wubz, Feelin Sloothy, the list goes on….. I would say yes,” wrote DrizzyDragon93.
At least one player plans to take their protest with them into the game.
“I will not revive anyone wearing this kind of skin. My take,” wrote user Charlikruse.
I’m not as ready to declare Battlefield 6 an uggo hellscape, but the bright blue camo of Wicked Grin is undeniably a mismatch among the existing lineup of generally realistic military wear. At some point, the studio was bound to step in it after making such a broad promise, and what we’re seeing now is the variety of ways people interpreted that promise.
You could argue that colored camos are actually consistent with Battlefield 6’s art style if you loop in gun skins: I haven’t spotted many players who’ve unlocked the completionist weapon camos yet, but they can get colorful and camo-y just like Wicked Grin.
But outfits are (and probably should be) held to a different standard. Customizing a gun skin is like decorating the inside of your locker—a space that nobody else ever gets a good look at. When outfits go overboard, as they have in Call of Duty and others, they become everyone else’s problem.
Hopefully Wicked Grin proves to be an anomaly. Rory had a look at the other new skins present in Battlefield 6 Season 1 and, to my eye, they largely fit Battlefield 6’s world enough that they wouldn’t stick out like an ugly thumb.
“Grounded skins for a while” – 18 days exactly from r/Battlefield
