DICE pulls Battlefield 2042 weekly mission for Russian helicopter skin

Battlefield 2042’s most recent weekly reward, a smiling skin for a Russian helicopter, has been pulled. DICE, the developer announced this decision Friday less than 48 hours following Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Completion of this weekly mission awarded players with a skin, called Grin Reaper, for the Mi-240 Super Hind Russian attack helicopter — Battlefield 2042’s version of a real-life aircraft. Its skin reflects a sharp, toothed smile onto its front.

“In light of current events,” DICE said in a tweet from the Battlefield Direct Communication Twitter account, “we have disabled the Weekly Missions system for this week, and this weeks reward is no longer available to unlock.” Players who have already unlocked the skin will not be affected by the change, and weekly missions will return next week.

This isn’t the first time that DICE has had to change a cosmetic item in Battlefield 2042 Based on Russian hostilities towards Ukraine. Back in November, shortly after the game’s launch, DICE faced criticism over a skin for a Russian Operator in the game called Little Green Man, which was the name given to the masked Russian soldiers in unmarked green uniforms during the conflict in 2014 that led to Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Both DICE and publisher Electronic Arts apologized for the in-game use of the name, and have since changed the skin’s name to Gator.

Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday morning, after eight years of deploying troops along its border with Ukraine. This was at the order of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russian forces began occupying parts of Ukraine and also targeting it with missile strikes. including areas near Kyiv, the nation’s capital. Ukrainian foreign affairs minister Dmytro Kuleba called the invasion “a war of aggression” and said that Ukraine would defend itself, in a tweetAs the invasion started. United States, NATO and other countries have imposed economic sanctions on Russia. They have also condemned the invasion.