What Happens If You Leave the 'Valorant' Game You Just Started?

Little by little, Riot Games' Valorant is becoming one of the most popular games in the world right now, eclipsing mammoths like League of Legends and even Fortnite as players flock to stream it. The new first-person shooter from Riot Games is a colorful, tactical multiplayer game that has hundreds of thousands of viewers watching its every move, and even more still hoping to get their hands on a closed beta key to start playing.

But with that in mind, new players have plenty of questions about how some of the game's rules will work. For instance, given that it's a title from Riot Games' cadre, how will it treat anyone who doesn't play by the rules and leaves games early, or anyone who has connectivity problems and exits a match? Those are both very good questions, because they're two equally legitimate realities in the world of online multiplayer gaming. Don't worry, though. We've gotten to the bottom of things for you.

If you're worried about some sort of punishment for leaving a Valorant match, don't get too worked up. The penalties are very lenient, it seems, after testing things out. So if you leave a Valorant game early, you don't have to worry about being banned or treated like a troll for the time being. In fact, Valorant's system is very similar to the same one Riot Games uses for its MOBA title League of Legends.

If you leave early, you can't queue another game unless you wait for the game to finish or join it once more. The same thing will happen if you don't choose an Agent, or playable character to jump in as. You'll be hit with what's called a "soft match cool down," which means you're either going to be waiting for the match to end or forced to join once more. 

There are no ranked matches right now in the closed beta, so you don't have to worry about rank or skill penalties being applied at the moment if you leave early. Put simply, you can't just leave the game you're playing to go jump into another one if you get mad you're on the losing side. You can leave, but it doesn't behoove you to do so, since you'll be left waiting either way to get back into the game or the one you just left. Now, this may change as the beta changes shape going forward. 

It's unclear how many different modes Valorant will end up having by the time it's out of beta. It's highly possible there may be harsher penalties when that time comes, but for right now this is what you're dealing with. With this information in mind, it's better to just stick out a game that you're not doing well in, because you're going to be left waiting twiddling your thumbs or rejoining anyway. Might as well finish it up.