DICE What are you doing to Battlefield

Yea, I am not a very uptight player. I didn't care when they added female soldiers and such in previous titles as some did. I am a history buff - a big one in fact, but I was able to look past it in a video game. In this game, I have enjoyed it and didnt mind most of the changes they made. I try to go along with the design as long as its fun. In other words - it takes a lot for me to start really gunning the developers over issues.

These new skins though, I am just honestly flabbergasted. When I saw screenshots of them going around I 100% said to myself "Wow someone put a lot of effort into these meme's." I never even considered that they were legitimate, until I realized they actually were 100% legit and in the game. I sat there kind of stunned for a moment. The ONLY thing that finally came to my mind is HOW ARE THEY SO OUT OF TOUCH? Not a single person said "this is a terrible idea, we are about to get massively roasted if we release this". I'm just utterly baffled at how out of touch this move is. I touched on the issue of being out of touch back in disucssions about the decision to remove the scoreboard and similar issues. I typed paragraphs trying to come up with some explanation, to try and understand the developers perspective on the issue. Rather than blast developers I tend to always try to ask myself "What is there intention with this change...there has to be one" I try to never just assume that developers are anything short of very smart, educated, and passionate people who devout hours of their lives to make these products. I try to first assume they had to have very good reasons for things. Maybe it is because these skins finally have just sort of pushed me over the line, but I am just baffled and feel there is just no explanation to be had anymore. They are simply massively out of touch with their players. I HAVE to believe that they knew this would befuddle and * off many players; particularly their older players. The only possible explanation I can even come up with is that they are simply marketing this game toward a younger audience. These skins just scream that they want a piece of the fortnite success, or a piece of the black ops flavor of CoD. I tells me they just dont feel they dont feel confident they can make a straight military warfare game anymore on its own merits. The thing that they so clearly miss however is that as soon as you go down this road you * off or otherwise alienate the vast majority of your playerbase. 

Im just so baffled. I just imagine sitting in a meeting and the topic of these skins coming up, if such a thing would even come up in a meeting. If I am sitting in this meeting, as soon as they pop these things up on the big screen I am chuckling to myself, and then I quickly say "we can not release that guys.....you will be laughed out of the building if you drop that in the game" I am not a game designer and I could have seen that coming a mile away. How do they not see these things coming? Perhaps they do and still proceed........If that is the case then I really do not get it. Risk the anger, meme's, being made a joke, diminishing your brand, for what greater purpose? If you cant tell I am trying REALLY hard to find justification from a developers perspective. I just really do not want to believe that they are THIS out of touch. If I am the digital artist who designed this tank skin....The whole time I am working on this skin I know my work is about to be made a complete joke. I just know that before I even start. So Why ? What greater purpose or reason are they chasing with design decisions like this?