Testing New Aim Shift Settings Begins in PUBG

The developers of PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS have announced the start of testing for new aim offset settings in Gunplay Labs. According to a recently published blog, this change aims to «highlight the unique strengths and weaknesses of each weapon type», offering players a more diverse gunplay experience. The testing phase begins today, allowing players to experiment with the updated mechanics.

Hello players!

We’re releasing this Dev Letter today to go over some important information about the upcoming Gunplay Labs testing out the new Aim Punch settings.

Below you will find our intent behind the changes and current design, the goals behind these new settings, the full specifications of the changes, and the schedule for the test. Read on for all the info!

Test and Survey Schedule

Gunplay Labs: Aim Punch

Schedule (UTC)

  • PC
    • January 22, 07:00 - February 4, 07:00
  • Console
    • January 30, 07:00 - February 11, 07:00

Опрос

Aim Punch in PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS

Aim Punch is a term we use to describe the camera movement that happens when your character is hit. It's a mechanic designed to simulate the impact of hits and effectiveness of suppressive fire. PUBG has had Aim Punch in the game since the beginning, so how exactly does the Aim Punch you've experienced up to now differ from the new version being introduced in the upcoming Gunplay Labs?

First, let’s talk about the version of Aim Punch that was applied during PUBG's Early Access period. Back then, it was a very basic implementation—powerful but visually unnatural, often hindering gameplay rather than enhancing it. Based on community feedback, we minimized its intensity to create the version of Aim Punch currently on the live server. While this toned-down version avoids disrupting gameplay, it also lacks the ability to create meaningful distinctions between weapon categories.

The new form of Aim Punch you'll encounter in the Update 33.2 Gunplay Labs aims to combine the strengths of both the Early Access and current live versions. We’ve carefully designed this system to preserve the refined gameplay that players have honed over the past eight years while also introducing a degree of differentiation between weapon classes.

Design Intent

Our main intent with this test is to change the levels of Aim Punch and see whether the proposed changes are suitable for the live service of PUBG. To do this, we’ll be running the Gunplay Labs: Aim Punch and will use the data and feedback collected from that to consider applying adjustments in a future update.

In particular, since the intensity of Aim Punch needs to be adjusted in detail for each weapon type—and because the determined Aim Punch levels will significantly influence the overall gameplay experience—we felt public tests were the best way to do this in order to gather feedback on all weapon types at once. As Aim Punch received a variety of opinions even during Early Access, we want to ensure that this pre-release test fully considers both gameplay data and your feedback before its implementation.

At this point, you might wonder why we are making changes to Aim Punch, especially when its application could increase the difficulty of gunplay. First, we’ve received consistent feedback from many players who wanted a more noticeable Aim Punch system to return. Based on this feedback, we’ve been exploring ways to improve Aim Punch and, with this iteration introduced in Gunplay Labs, we aim to achieve two key objectives.

The first is to create a more dynamic gunplay environment by adding variety to hit effects. The second is to establish Aim Punch as a new balancing factor for future weapon and meta balancing efforts.

Ultimately, by applying varying levels of Aim Punch intensity, we want to highlight the unique strengths and weaknesses of each weapon type, enabling players to experience more diverse gunplay. We hope that the new Aim Punch will add another layer of variability—alongside elements like recoil, fire rate, and damage—leading to a richer and more dynamic gunplay experience.

Aim Punch Balance Design

The Aim Punch in PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS consists of the following two elements:

  • Aim Shift:
    • This is the value that determines how much the aiming point itself moves upward when being hit.
    • The aiming point displaced by this value is not restored automatically.
  • Camera Shake: This value determines the extent the camera shakes without affecting the aiming point. It affects the camera angle's axis rotation, vertical & horizontal movement, and the shake value of the FOV.

There are a number of adjustments we’re looking to make to the Aim Punch system.

  • Update Aim Punch to have a smoother and more natural movement.
  • Adjust Aim Punch impact values for ADS and non-ADS states, as well as for armored and unarmored targets.
    • Camera Shake should be more noticeable for unarmored targets.
    • ADS should feel a bigger impact of Aim Punch.
  • Adjust Aim Punch levels by weapon type.

Below, we will provide a detailed explanation of how different levels of Aim Punch are applied to each weapon type.

Aim Punch Intensity by Weapon Type

Rank 1: Sniper Rifles

The highest amount of Aim Punch will apply to all SRs. We want players to feel the impact of these high caliber weapons and since they fire slowly, we don’t expect SRs having the highest intensity to create balance issues. When hit by an SR, the aiming point will shift significantly, making it harder to maintain accuracy and land consecutive shots. This will also ensure targets feel the impact of a large caliber hit.

Rank 2: Shotguns

Shotguns are powerful weapons and should feel impactful when taking a hit, especially when being hit by multiple pellets. Aim Shift intensity is higher due to the increased damage, so targets should feel more impact than that of other weapons.

Rank 3: Submachine Guns

SMGs are fast firing weapons that allow for multiple hits in quick succession but with lower overall damage per bullet, so the Aim Punch should feel less impactful than that of SRs or Shotguns. Even so, SMGs still deliver a noticeable level of Aim Punch.

Ranks 4-7: Designated Marksman Rifles, Assault Rifles, and Light Machine Guns

These ranks are all similar to what is on the current live servers and are broken down as follows:

  • Rank 4: All 7.62 DMRs
  • Rank 5: All 5.56 DMRs & the VSS
  • Rank 6: All 7.62 ARs & LMGs
  • Rank 7: All 5.56 ARs & LMGs

The Aim Punch intensity between Rank 1–3 weapons and DMRs/ARs/LMGs has been designed to show a noticeable difference. However, the difference among Ranks 4–7 is minimal, with LMGs being aligned with each respective AR due to their similar utility. Since the weapons in this category are already considered mainstream in the current gunplay ecosystem, we aim to avoid giving them additional advantages through stronger Aim Punch.

Rank 8: Crossbow, Handguns, Melee, Etc.

Rank 8, which is set as the new default intensity, includes all other weapons not covered above and is assigned the weakest level of Aim Punch.

Conclusion

We’re looking forward to seeing your feedback once testing is complete! We feel these adjusted Aim Punch settings will give a better overall feeling to PUBG’s gunplay, rewarding players who get the upper hand in gunfights while making the different weapon types feel more impactful the harder you are hit by them. By applying different levels of Aim Punch to weapon categories, we aim to give each weapon type its own unique identity and provide a more diverse gunplay experience.

As we stated before, the purpose of this test is to make sure the numbers we’ve decided on work how we think they will. In this Gunplay Labs, all weapons within the same category are assigned the same Aim Punch intensity to allow players to experience the new Aim Punch settings. However, in the future, we plan to introduce varying levels of Aim Punch within the same weapon category to further refine gunplay.

Once you’ve had a chance to get into the game and test them out, be sure to fill out the feedback survey we’ve linked in this post to let us know if we’ve hit the mark or where we need to adjust.

That concludes today’s Dev Letter. Thank you for your interest in the upcoming Gunplay Labs and we look forward to seeing your feedback once testing starts!

Earlier, PUBG STUDIOS released its weekly ban report for the period from January 13 to January 19, detailing significant efforts to enforce rules and combat cheating.

Origin: pubg.com