Modern Warfare 2 players need to register a phone number and pre-paid "may not work"

Remember when Overwatch 2 launched last week and people were struggling to register their pre-paid, or pay-as-you-go, numbers so they could play the game? Well, now Activision Blizzard are planning to insist people sign up for two-factor authentication to play the upcoming Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, too. They’re also warning that players with pre-paid plans might not be able to get the process to work.

A post by Blizzard Support on the Battle.net forums explains that registering a phone number will be required to play some games, including Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, newly created Overwatch 2 accounts, and new Modern Warfare accounts. Actiblizz say that asking players to register their numbers to limit the number of free accounts they can have “helps keep players accountable for their actions and, in turn, reduces toxicity and cheating”.

Another page on the Battle.net forum advises that “mobile phones with prepaid plans may not work with the phone notification service”. If you were hoping to play on Steam and avoid having to bother with any of this malarkey then, unfortunately, think again. The fine print at the bottom of Modern Warfare 2’s Steam store page states that a phone number has to be linked to your Steam account before you can play the game.

Following complaints from people who weren’t able to register their number to play Overwatch last week, Blizzard disabled phone registration as a requirement for all Overwatch players. This took effect from Friday, October 7th, just days following the hero shooter’s launch. Anyone with an existing, connected Battle.net account shouldn’t need to register their number to play, but newly registering players will still need to.

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 launches its offensive on Steam and Battle.net on October 28th for £60/$70/€70. Don’t forget to bring your phone into battle, I guess.