Call of Duty: Vanguard aim assist bug finally fixed after months of work

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An aim assist fix is coming to Warzone soon, too

Call of Duty: Vanguard
(Image credit: Activision)

A troublesome Call of Duty: Vanguard aim assist bug has finally been squashed after months of testing and investigation, and a fix for the issue will come to Warzone soon as well.

Vanguard developer Sledgehammer Games outlined the triage process for this particular bug in a recent Twitter thread. The problem sounds straightforward on paper: sometimes, the game's aim assist system would get ahead of itself and skip a "player visibility check," potentially causing aim assist to flicker in and out multiple times in a firefight. 

This bug was likely especially bothersome since it could make guns feel subtly inconsistent. It's arguably better to have no aim assist at all so that you can at least get a feel for how a weapon performs, sort of like how a steady frame rate of 30 often looks better than a slightly higher frame rate that jumps around. 

However, fixing this simple-sounding problem was quite the ordeal. Sledgehammer says it began monitoring reports of aim assist issues back when Season One began in December 2021, and it's only just pushed a fix for this specific issue today. 

"Thank you to everyone who shared clips of this issue," Sledgehammer said. "This bug was very difficult to reproduce and the video clips were critical to the QA investigation which helped our engineering team diagnose and solve the issue."

Now that the bug's been addressed in Vanguard, Sledgehammer says a comparable fix will come to Warzone soon enough, passing the ball to Raven Software to handle the battle royale side of things. 

Sledgehammer was quick to note that "the real test is the live game environment with all of you," so proceed optimistically but cautiously as you watch for lingering aim assist hitches. 

A mid-season update is bringing some refreshed content and a Snoop Dogg skin to Warzone and Vanguard.  

Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.