Overwatch's latest patch set to fix Competitive Play's leaving problem

Blizzard is taking care of a recurring problem with Overwatch's competitive mode, according to patch notes of an update now available to Windows PC players. Following complaints about punishments for leaving matches for any amount of time, the developer is adjusting the effect that leaving and rejoining will have in Competitive Play.

Fans have taken to various Overwatch communities, like Reddit and Battle.net, to call out the penalties for rejoining a game they have briefly stepped away from as too harsh.

"If you haven't already known, leaving a competitive game and then rejoining will still count as a loss, no matter how long you left for," a user wrote in a thread today. As a result, players' skill ratings have been affected, as have their match histories and win rates.

Overwatch players would also receive standard leaving penalties, despite rejoining the match. These include a 75 percent cut to the amount of experience obtained after completing the game, suspensions and even possible bans.

Director Jeff Kaplan confirmed that a fix was on its way today in a forum post. The patch notes visible in the Battle.net desktop client and shared on Reddit confirm that it's now available.

Underneath "Competitive Play," Blizzard included that it had "fixed an issue where if you left and rejoined an in-progress Competitive Play match, the game would still track the match as a loss even if your team won."

Players must see the match to its conclusion in order for it to count as a win. Those who leave a single match more than three times will still be penalized, however.

The update is not yet available on consoles, and Blizzard told Polygon there's no release window scheduled yet. Also left out of the update is a new hero that looks set to come to Overwatch, as teased by the game's social media accounts today.