‘Modern Warfare 2’ is the latest game to require phone number linking

Anyone getting ready to play Modern Warfare 2 on launch will be faced with a similar issue to Overwatch 2, which Blizzard released last week (October 4), in needing a linked phone number before the game can be played.

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A phone notifications page on the Battle.net support site has recently been updated with text stating that those who wish to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, or those with “newly created Overwatch 2 accounts, and newly created Call of Duty: Modern Warfare accounts” will need to add and validate a phone number in order to play the game.

Blizzard states this is needed in order to “send you notifications when important changes are made to your account”, but also goes on to say that any phone in a supported country with a data plan “that is not prepaid” can be used. Further on in the article, Blizzard says that prepaid plans “may not work” with the service.

This means that anyone thinking of buying Modern Warfare 2 will need a mobile phone number linked via either Battle.net or Steam, as it’s also mentioned on the Modern Warfare 2 store page on Steam that a phone number “must” be linked to accounts in order to play the game, although via Steam there is no mention of a prepaid plan being unsuitable.

The news follows several occasions of players being unable to access the beta via Steam in September, due to an error message showing “mobile phone number required” which didn’t recognise when a number had already been entered. The only fix for this was for players to remove their phone numbers from Steam, sometimes multiple times, before relinking them.

The new information comes after Blizzard did a U-turn on all accounts requiring a phone number for Overwatch 2, instead stipulating that any players with a connected Battle.net account, which included anyone who had played the game since June 9, 2021, would no longer need to provide a phone number in order to play. Blizzard states that requiring phone verification is a step towards reducing “disruptive behaviour” and claims that this will help prevent banned users from rejoining with a new account.

In other gaming news, Twitch streamer Adriana Chechik has broken her back in multiple places after falling into a foam pit at TwitchCon.

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