Nintendo appears to be banning Pokemon Sword & Shield players who disconnect from matches on purpose

Awhile back, we shared a story on Pokemon Sword and Shield players who were purposefully disconnecting during/after online battles. They would do so to avoid having their rank lowered, which would in turn, deny the winner their earned points. Nintendo said shortly after that they wouldn't hesitate to ban players who were doing this, and now it seems they're sticking to their word.

A rash of players have recently noticed that their Nintendo Accounts have been banned, and a few of those banned have confirmed that they were disconnecting from matches to avoid loss penalties. Now instead of losing a few points, they've lost access to online battles altogether, which I can't imagine was worth it!