One of the few things that has put a bit of a damper on the Rocket League fun is all of the quitters in the ranked matchmaking playlist. In unranked, players can quit out and an AI controlled car will immediately take their place while a human replacement is found, but in ranked this doesn’t happen.
Players who have a teammate quit a ranked match are left by themselves to defeat the now almost insurmountable team. This problem happens so often because there is currently no detriment to quitting, with the quitter having no change in rank, and no other punishment whatsoever, but that is about to change.
With Rocket League’s first major update coming this week developer Psyonix is looking to curtail this behavior with a couple of modifications, as described in an interview between IGN and Psyonix’s Thomas Silloway and Jeremy Dunham. The first is that anyone who quits out of a matchmaking game will receive a 15 minute ban, not allowing them to join another match during that window.
“We’re keenly aware of this (meaning the quitting issue). As you know, we play the game a lot ourselves, and this issue has affected us quite a bit too. We’re not very happy about it, so we’re looking into taking measure for it.”
“The most immediate measure we’re taking is, anyone that leaves a game will be banned for 15 minutes from matchmaking. And we’re also planning in the future to add things like the ability for a team in ranked to be able to forfeit. So, if they are getting destroyed, and they all want to leave, they won’t be penalized.”
The team is also committed to continuing to improve the game, without impacting what players love. This includes keeping maps simple, while still keeping the option of different landscapes on the table. Click here to listen to the entire interview.
Rocket League is available now on PS4 and PC.
