Respawn finally fix Apex Legends hit registration bug in May 20 patch

Isaac McIntyre

Respawn have released a new Apex Legends hotfix patch on May 20, with the game’s 1.39 update set to target one of the biggest issues in Season 5 so far ⁠— the hit registration issue that has plagued the battle royale in recent weeks.

In any competitive first-person shooter, hit-registration is one of the most crucial parts of the gameplay. If hit reg isn’t working properly, bullets and damage will not be properly recorded server-side. It’s one of the biggest FPS issues there is.

Apex Legends players were, reasonably so, pretty peeved when they discovered the title’s big Season 5 update had thrown the entire hit-reg system out of whack. Respawn confirmed the issue soon after and got to work on squashing the bug.

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Apex Legends update 1.39 targets hit reg issue

On May 20, the Apex devs confirmed they had found the root of the problem, and sent hotfix update 1.39 live on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Unfortunately, there are no patch notes, but producer Josh Medina did confirm the fix.

“New patch available! Go check your updates and download,” he announced soon after the ~50mb patch went live. He also confirmed the new update ⁠— helmed by Respawn engineer Samy Duc ⁠— was designed to “fix hit reg.”

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Respawn have pushed an update to fix the issue, but that is no guarantee the issue will be resolved entirely. The developers previously rolled out a hotfix on May 14 to fix the bug, but it persisted beyond the patch.

It does look like the long-standing Season 5 bug may finally have been resolved, though. Pro players like Tanner Roach and Jack ‘NiceWigg’ Martin reported the bug truly had been squashed, after testing their gunplay post-patch.

Apex Legends players should be able to land their shots again now that Respawn has pushed their May 20 patch.
Apex Legends players should be able to land their shots again now that Respawn has pushed their May 20 patch.

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Apex’s broken hit registration issue was certainly the biggest bug plaguing Respawn’s hit battle royale in Season 5. It was also, however, far from the only problem the devs have had on their radar in the last few weeks.

Other issues that will see server-side fixes in coming weeks include buzzing noises that can be heard during matches, a strange Revenant ult bug, reconnect issues, and more, Respawn confirmed earlier this week.

About The Author

Isaac was formerly the Australian Managing Editor at Dexerto. Isaac began his writing career as a sports journalist at Fairfax Media, before falling in love with all things esports and gaming. Since then he's covered Oceanic and global League of Legends for Upcomer, Hotspawn, and Snowball Esports.