Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 to remove 'pay to win' skin following fan backlash

I don’t know about you but I think one requirement of any FPS game is being able to see your enemies. However, that did not seem to be the case for one Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III skin which allowed players to blend seamlessly into their surroundings… and spend a lot of money in the process.

If you have ever wondered what an evil Groot would look like then look no further than the Gaia skin which was added to Modern Warfare III just a couple of months ago. Giving players the shape of a tangled tree, the skin was originally featured in Modern Warfare II for operator Nila 'Nova' Brown.

Check out the campaign trailer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III below!

Although the concept sounded good, it did not end up being good in practice after players complained it made their enemies almost impossible to see. So much so, that the Gaia skin was nerfed back in October. However, it was seemingly not nerfed enough as it is still the equivalent of playing whilst wearing an invisibility cloak.

As a result, Sledgehammer Games will be removing the Gaia skin and its Blackcell Operator variant in order to rework it fully. “Adjustments to Gaia and Gaia Blackcell Operator Skins are in the pipeline for Modern Warfare III,” said the developer on Reddit. “In a future game update, we’ll disable this item until said changes can be released to all players.”

The skin was achievable via the season six battle pass, which ultimately made it a ‘pay to win’ cosmetic. Once purchasing the battle pass, players would need to level up in order to gain access to it or even purchase a further upgrade that would allow them to earn it faster. As a result, having a paid skin being this broken has not gone down well with the Call of Duty fanbase.

In related news, Modern Warfare III is officially the worst rated COD in history. Yikes.