Pokemon Legends: Z-A Has a Problem With AFK Players

Pokemon Legends: Z-A's competitive multiplayer scene is running into a problem with players who don't seem very competitive at all, seemingly going AFK for lengths that span entire battles. There's no solid single explanation for why some Pokemon Legends: Z-A players are refusing to move during four-player ranked matches, but the Mega Stones offered as rewards are the most likely motive.
Launched on October 26 for Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, Pokemon Legends: Z-A's opening week sales topped 5.8 million copies sold, with Circana's Mat Piscatella declaring it the best-selling physical game of 2025 so far. Post-launch, it has received a very mixed reception from the fan base, with its player rating on OpenCritic split down the middle at 50, but those big sales numbers indicate that there are probably still plenty of players getting their monster-battling fix from Pokemon Legends: Z-A.
However, recent reports indicate what appears to be a growing movement of players entering Pokemon Legends: Z-A's multiplayer matches and either attacking while standing completely still or doing nothing at all. This phenomenon has perplexed some competitive players who have run across opponents who seemingly refuse to attack anyone. Others have found static players who only attack when a person gets too close, meaning perhaps they've set their controllers to automatically attack and then stepped away from the game. Fans are unsure why this is happening, but the most likely explanation may involve Pokemon Legends: Z-A's rewards for participating in Ranked Battles and how to get them.
Having entered Season 3 on November 27, Pokemon Legends: Z-A's Ranked Battle rewards include Safari Balls, Seeds of Mastery, Bottle Caps, and Nuggets, but the prize for reaching upper ranks in each of the first three seasons has been a Mega Stone for evolving one of the original Kalos region starters, with Chesnaughtite being the current top reward. Many fans have expressed displeasure with Game Freak for holding back Mega Stones for such popular Pokemon behind the Ranked Battle system, and the wave of AFK players in multiplayer matches could be the primary cause behind these occurrences.
The Ranked Battle system has received criticism for a number of reasons, including bad connections and lagging issues, which could explain why so many players appear to be unmoving. But another possibility is that players are exploiting the rules of Ranked Battles to rank up effortlessly, with some saying that reaching higher ranks is easy even for players who come in fourth place every time, because winning is not the only way for players to earn points. Matches only last three minutes, and with Ranked Battle Rewards in Pokemon Legends: Z-A becoming easier to obtain starting back in Season 2, simply showing up could be a new, albeit boring, strategy that players are using to earn rewards.
Some players are calling for the development team to take steps to punish players who may be exploiting the system, feeling that they are ruining the online experience for those who actually want to feel the rush of competition. There were new rules added for online play before the start of Season 3, but they target players who mess with the online battle system by using multiple Nintendo accounts, Switch or Switch 2 consoles, or sets of save data to manipulate the outcomes of matches. It's not yet clear if Nintendo will take any action against AFK ranked players before Season 4 rolls around, but considering that its start date is just over a week after the planned release date of the Mega Dimension DLC, players may be more invested in the single-player aspects of the game once it rolls around.