In an effort to improve the overall player experience and cut back on early quitters, Gears 5 developer The Coalition has rolled out a new penalty system for people who leave a multiplayer match well before it's over. Gears of War communications boss Dana Sissons announced that the penalty system went live on October 9. The repercussions were swift for one player, who found themselves banned for nearly two years for repeated quitting (but more on that later).

"You've been warned," Sissons said regarding the new quitting penalties, which only apply to ranked matches. In another tweet, Sissons said, "We can all agree that quitters ruin the game for everyone, so this is just the first step down that path."

The Coalition said in its own tweet that the ban periods for quitters will depend on prior behaviour. The worst offenders may face bans of a year or longer.

Gears 5 quit penalties are active. You’ve been warned. — Dana Sissons (@danasissons) October 9, 2019

"Quitters have been receiving month to year long suspensions for prior behavior. This is how long you can be suspended for being a rampant quitter," the studio said. "Take heed. Over the next few hours, impacted users will be un-suspended, but 1 quit away from suspension. You have been warned."

Some have called out The Coalition for being too harsh with its penalty system for quitters. Any number of things can require a person to leave their console/PC and address something happening in the real world. Or a player's internet connection may drop, for any number of different reasons that aren't related to intentionally quitting.

Thankfully, then, Gears 5 multiplayer allows players who drop a connection to re-join. Additionally, Gears 5 has a behind-the-scenes system that allows players to work off the strikes against their account in the case of one-time quitting.

One Gears 5 player was reportedly banned for 640 days. However, the full story is that this person quit 18 of the 21 Escalation matches they played in the previous 24 hours.

In other news, Microsoft's new game-streaming service--xCloud--opened today for public trials, and Gears 5 is one of the supported titles.