Earlier today, DICE launched Battlefield 2042’s first event called “The Liquidators”  as part of today’s title update. While this should be good news for players of the game, that happiness quickly turned to outrage, as it looks like the skins showcased in The Liquidators event trailer can’t exactly be earned without spending some real-world dough.

Curious what the skins look like? Check out The Liquidators announcement trailer below.

I have to admit, the skins look good, no? Unfortunately, the “free track” for the event where players are asked to earn Ribbons in the event-exclusive mode “Tactical Conquest” (which is just regular Conquest that’s played as 8v8v instead of the much larger player counts), only includes one character skin, and this is for Dozer. The rest? Yep, they are ALL locked behind a paywall, as in they are sold in the in-game store for a good amount of real-world money.

Here’s a look at what you can earn via the event’s free track:

Outside of the Dozer Specialist skin, the rest of the free items are just a Player Card. a weapon skin, and a vehicle skin. The rest are all in bundles, which you can see as this article’s featured image, don’t come cheap.

As one might expect, the game’s subreddit has exploded with the vast majority underwhelmed not only by DICE’s first in-game event, but also the way rewards are handled.

The Liquidator Event is behind a paywall. from battlefield2042

The Liquidators "Event" is nothing but a cash grab from battlefield2042

Today I give up on battlefield from battlefield2042

The Liquidators event is the laziest excuse I’ve seen from DICE yet from battlefield2042

There are more threads similar to the ones shown above, but you get the gist. I have to say, I wasn’t expecting much, but this is a bit too much, I admit. I mean, surely DICE knows the big draw for most people here are the Specialist skins, and just having one available as a free reward is a joke — especially if you consider that DICE and EA should value what small player base they have left. Then again, what do I know, right?

Before anyone jumps at DICE, don’t forget that there’s a chance that this bit could be all from EA’s side, and the studio’s devs have their hands tied behind their backs. What would be a fair compromise between free and for-purchase items should DICE have went with in terms of this event? Let us know down in the comments.