During Play in editor (PIE), is there a shortcut to simulate ESC without stopping the game?

Wow, I’m really digging out an old question. But I found this solution:

In DefaultEngine.ini in the project you can add:

[/Script/Engine.PlayerInput]
-DebugExecBindings=(Key=Escape,Command="CloseEditorViewport")

This should unbind the Escape button from closing the game in the editor.