Blizzard recently elaborated on the punishment for those who leave matches early in Overwatch, as well as what can be considered leaving.
A community manager on the Overwatch forums recently posted a breakdown of the rules and consequences for leaving a Quick Play match early:
- “If you leave too many games and your ‘games played’ vs ‘games completed’ percentage falls below our required threshold, you will receive a warning message (this percentage is calculated based on your 20 most recent games).”
- “If you continue to leave games after receiving a warning (which will display in the lower left-hand corner of your screen), you will incur a 75% EXP penalty on all future games.”
- “The penalty isn’t time-based, but instead will be removed once you complete enough games to raise your ‘games played’ vs ‘games completed’ percentage above our required threshold (again, this percentage is calculated based on your 20 most recent games).”
- “If you disconnect or are removed due to inactivity from a game, it will count the same as if you leave the game intentionally.”
What qualifies as leaving a match was also clarified. If a player leaves a game while the “Assemble Your Team” phase is still active or when a game ends after the victory or defeat message, that player will not be considered a “leaver.” Leaving at any time between those two points counts as a game played and will tag the player as a “leaver.”
Overwatch is available on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.