Bizarre Warzone bug causes ground loot weapons to “flash bang” players

Theo Salaun
call of duty warzone pacific rebirth island flash bang

A new Call of Duty: Warzone bug is making the rounds and players are absolutely baffled, thinking their hardware might be at fault. In what has turned out to be an in-game glitch, random ground loot is… ‘flash banging’ gamers.

Typically, ground loot serves a very useful purpose – as you can pick up guns and equipment that you’d otherwise need to rely on a loadout for. While taking your time to sift through stuff on the floor can be a risk, it’s usually relatively safe.

That might be changing, though, as a new bug has been popping up for players across all systems. When approaching random pieces of ground loot, they’re finding their entire screens obfuscated by a mostly opaque white haze – much like a flash bang.

In a video posted to Reddit, they showed the glitch in action and asked a simple question with their title: “What’s happening?” 

New Warzone ground loot bug ‘flash bangs’ players

As you can see in the clip, the player approaches an MP-40 and, as soon as they’re about to reach the gun, their screen is immediately covered in white. The large cloud practically covers the entire screen and does so at all angles until the player moves away from the gun.

While some thought the issue might be caused by an issue with PC hardware, the player explained that they were using a PS4 when it happened. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be limited to console, either, as another commented saying they met the bug on PC as well.

warzone flash grenade
Flash Grenades are a nightmare to deal with, but it’s even worse when ground loot is doing it to you.

A number of others seemed to encounter this issue, too, with all saying it happened on Rebirth Island. At the moment, it remains unclear exactly what’s causing the bug, but it seems that locations like Harbor, Security, and Prison aren’t safe.

Of course, people also joked about this weird glitch in the replies. One said the gun would turn you into a “walking flash bang,” while another warned “it’s Jesus Cristo appearing on you. Doomsday.”

As far as answering the title’s question, someone else had a very uninspiring response: “The game is going to s**t that’s what’s happening.” There’s no word yet on a fix, but hopefully Raven Software add it to their to-do list pronto.

About The Author

Théo is a former writer at Dexerto based in New York and built on competition. Formerly an editor for Bleacher Report and philosophy student at McGill, he fell in love with Overwatch and Call of Duty — leading him to focus on esports for Dex.