Warzone tournament match ends in agony as devastating bug appears at worst moment

Brad Norton
Warzone Rebirth Island gameplay

A Warzone tournament match ended in the most devastating way possible as a game-breaking bug interrupted what could have been a crucial last-moment clutch.

Without a ranked mode in Warzone, players have to look outside the game for some top-tier competition. Given elite tournaments with six-figure prize pools are often on an invite-only basis, this leaves space for community-run events like the Z League.

Hundreds often flock to these regular tournaments to test their skills and earn some cash on the side. As you would expect, games during these events are more intense than usual with everyone gunning for the top spot.

While misplays in the heat of the moment are bad enough, there’s nothing worse than having a loss be out of your hands. That’s exactly what happened on March 29 when a budding Warzone amateur fell victim to a game-ruining glitch in the final moments of an event.

The latest Z League event came down to the wire as players battled through the newly revamped version of Rebirth Island. With four Operators left standing, just one point was between Reddit user ‘j-thrill’ and a tournament win.

As the final zone began to move, they appeared to be in the perfect position for a sneaky kill. An enemy dropped down in front of them and it all seemed to line up, until disaster struck. The opposing player snapped around and instantly gunned them down, seemingly through some terrain.

From their POV, the enemy had just shot them through the map. From the opposing POV, however, there was no terrain in sight to block their shots. 

It turns out, a rendering issue caused textures to bug out on Rebirth. Unfortunately for the player about to win, this glitch occurred at the worst possible moment.

“I was clearly going to wait until I came around that ‘hill,’” they explained. “Was very pissed when my killcam showed that there was no hill at all. Devs need to get their game fixed.”

Warzone Rebirth Island gameplay
From the player’s perspective, their enemy was stuck behind a hill.

There’s no telling exactly how much was at stake in this particular event. Though being that close to a win and having it stripped away, would clearly hurt regardless of the prizing.

Despite recent changes across Rebirth, many of which have left Caldera fans envious, it seems there’s always a chance Warzone’s maps could ruin the best-laid plans without any warning.