In the most recent update to Apex Legends, a new feature that wasn’t listed in the patch notes for the update was implemented into the game. This new feature penalized players who would continuously quit matches early. However, the implementation of this early quitting penalty appears to have been accidentally enable early. According to a post on the game’s subreddit from Respawn’s community manager Jay “JayFresh” Frechette, the feature was indeed not meant to go live in the recent update.
So internally, we have been working on and testing this feature but it wasn’t our intention or plan to have it go live with the update that went out today. There was a piece of script that was missing and caused the leaving match early penalty to be turned on when it shouldn’t be.
The early quitting penalty has since been removed from the game. According to Frechette, the studio currently does not “have an ETA for if or when this would come out for real.” This may disappoint some as players quitting matches early has been a major issue within the game. Thus, a early quitting penalty like this has been highly requested by the community. Respawn has been been adamant in combating issues in the game for the playerbase already as the studio has been banning cheaters in the game.
Apex Legends has become a massive success since its surprise release in early February. The game recently began its first season and introduced its first new Legend, Octane. Elsewhere, Massachusetts college announced they are offering a scholarship to the top Apex Legends players. For Respawn, the game’s success has been a fantastic way to start the year. Their next game, Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, is set to finally be revealed this Saturday at Star Wars Celebration, and is aimed to release this year. 2019 could be a fantastic year for the studio.