Common Problems
- Why was I suspended from competitive play due to disconnects
- I would like to appeal my ban for Overwatch 2 competitive play
- Silence expired but still banned from competitive play
- Competitive ban persist through off season
Information about the Leaver Penalty
Choosing to leave a game while it's in progress puts every remaining teammate at a disadvantage, and makes the game less enjoyable for all involved. Because of this, we often penalize players who make this a habit. This is especially true in ranked-mode games, which competitive players take much more seriously.
Connection problems sometimes cause players to drop so we set a threshold for leaving quick play games before you are penalized—competitive games have special rules which are outlined below. Game Masters will not overturn leaver penalties.
Repeatedly leaving games will move you into leaver status until you successfully finish enough games to remove that status. If you are currently in leaver status, your player card will tell you how many games you must finish to leave that status in the upper-right corner.
Quick Play
In Quick Play, if you leave four of your last 20 games played, you will be placed on a 20-minute suspension from queuing for any game mode that grants progression progress. If you continue to leave games, the suspension can increase to 4 hours.
Competitive Play
Penalties in Competitive Play are more severe because of the serious nature of the mode. Leaving a game early or being removed for inactivity prevents you from joining a new game until the original match has concluded—though you are able to rejoin an in-progress game within one minute to avoid a penalty. If one of your teammates has left the match, the game will tell you it's safe to leave the match without a penalty—though you will still get a loss.
In Competitive Play, leaving a match at any point before the Match Complete screen will contribute towards leaver status—including during the Assemble your team phase. In addition to the 75% experience penalty, you may be restricted from joining a Competitive Play game for a pre-determined amount of time. Leaving more matches will increase the amount of time you must wait before joining a competitive game, lower your skill rating, and eventually result in a ban from Competitive Play for the current season—including the loss of any rewards you would have earned. Multiple season-long Competitive Play suspensions can lead to a Permanent Competitive Play Ban
Season 4 Competitive Leaver Penalty Changes
We encourage all players to review the Season 4 changes to seasonal competitive play penalties in our Blue Post. Penalties may now partially carry over into the next season.