Overwatch 2 is an online-only game, and now that it is free to play unlike its predecessor, that means for even more accessibility to all kinds of players. Knowing exactly how and why the game penalizes leavers its players for leaving too early will prevent a lot of headaches since even a drop in your connection will result in a punishment. Here’s everything you need to know.
What is Overwatch 2 Leaver Penalty? Answered
The general gist is quite simple – for quick play matches, leaving before the Assemble Your Team screen will not penalize you. Instead, leaving after then and just before the Victory or Defeat screen appears will result in a -75% penalty to all XP gained.
In competitive play, it’s a lot more strict. Players are unable to join a new game until the one that they have left concludes. This also means that the game is rejoinable, and if you do rejoin within one minute, you will not get penalized.
If anyone else leaves the match before you, you will not get penalized for leaving after the on-screen countdown hits zero. This will however naturally be a loss. Repeatedly leaving matches is also tracked, so much so that Overwatch 2 has a built-in leaver status that can be in place if a player leaves one too many matches.
In competitive play, leaving a match at any point will go towards leaver status. Alongside everything that occurs for leaving quick play matches, leaving competitive play will restrict you from joining a new competitive game, lower your skill rating and ban you from the competitive play season completely – this includes any rewards for the season to be revoked from you.
We hope this answered your question. For more content on Overwatch see our other guides similar to this one with Overwatch 2 Tier List (March 2023) or Biggest Overwatch 2 Character Changes from Overwatch 1. Like us on Facebook to keep up to date with our coverage.
