Apex Legends is nerfing a skin because its iron-sights were too good

Apex Legends skins are cosmetic only and offer no gameplay advantages, or at least they’re supposed to be. In a few cases, it seems that there were some skins with iron sights (the aiming device built into in-game model of the weapon) that were a little too good, so developer Respawn Entertainment is altering them to be more in line with everything else.

While the goal of many free-to-play games is to create cosmetics that don’t affect a player’s ability to win either negatively or positively, cases where some skins give people an edge — or more likely a disadvantage — are always bound to happen. Thankfully, it seems that Respawn is keeping a close eye on issues like this.

According to its blog post on the update, Respawn explained that the iron sights that it took a look at first were the Heat Sink skin for the VK-47 Flatline rifle. For this one, Respawn says that it received feedback of players feeling like its built-in iron sights were superior to other skins, making it a better option early on when you don’t have attachments.

To fix this, the studio made some slight modifications to the sight to make it a little less precise-feeling. Respawn also altered the Revelations Flatline skin in the other direction, by shrinking it slightly to create less of a blind spot when players are aiming down sights with it. Respawn also says it’s taking a look at several other skins to help Apex Legends maintain its competitive integrity, but there’s no word yet on which other skins might be getting changes.