Gamers have apparently reached their limit with Overwatch 2’s “match canceled” feature, claiming the infamous error code leaves more questions than answers.
The long-standing Overwatch system in place is designed to allow leeway for players who’ve had to suffer AFK teammates by ending the match without affecting their MMR. However, once a certain stage in any lobby is reached the feature seems to disable, forcing players to play at a disadvantage to not lose rankings.
Players congregated in a Reddit post on April 26 to dissect the protection feature, with many immediately taking one stance: They want Blizzard to rethink the strategy that seems to be doing players a little more harm than good.
The Overwatch community claims the feature’s biggest issue is its inconsistency. Apparently, according to some fans, players who have been booted from matches without actually quitting are often punished the most because the AFK system doesn’t give them enough time to rejoin before marking them as a “quitter.”
The second issue is the timer—a countdown many think is random.
Aggrieved Overwatch players said many problems have arisen when teammates quit their lobbies after a certain amount of time, but the system doesn’t decide to cancel the match. Instead, they’ve been forced to play out the games down a teammate. Others had the other problem, with late AFKs ending games that were clearly all wrapped up.
As a solution, Overwatch 2 fans suggested the error period be left until half-time. However, others warned this still leaves plenty of opportunity for toxic players to leave midway through a match if their team isn’t performing to their liking.
The community’s unclear as to when this specific AFK grace period ends. Hopefully, the Overwatch developers can share the specific time before your team gets marked as having an AFK teammate to put fans’ minds at ease.
Blizzard didn’t return Dot Esports’ request for comment before publication.
