New Call of Duty Follows Overwatch 2 by Requiring a Phone Number Just to Play It

(Image: IGDB)Activision Blizzard is implementing a strange new authentication strategy on two of its biggest games: It’s requiring a phone number just to play. Worse, numbers associated with prepaid phones and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) aren’t allowed.

Activision kicked this off last week with Overwatch 2, which was released for early access on October 4. The developer announced that all players would be required to enter their phone numbers on Battle.net if they wanted to access the game. According to Activision, the phone number requirement was the latest in a series of attempts to curb in-game harassment and abuse. Unsurprisingly, that same concern has manifested with Call of Duty—the newest chapter of which comes out later this month.

According to the phone notifications page on Battle.net, anyone engaging with Modern Warfare 2 or Overwatch 2 (as well as those with newly-created Modern Warfare accounts) must attach a working phone number to access those titles. This is obviously quite frustrating, given that most of the people this applies to have already paid for these games and should therefore have access to the content they’ve shelled out for. But Activision’s “no prepaid or VOIP number” rule takes this a step further by excluding those who don’t use a traditional phone plan, either out of necessity or by choice.

When the phone number announcement was made for Overwatch 2, Activision attempted to defend the decision, saying players benefitted from receiving text notifications when they weren’t logged into Battle.net. Its argument wasn’t sufficient for those who were locked out. Players argued that while many associate prepaid phone plans with sketchy burner phones, the prepaid plans of today are convenient and affordable, and often work with mainstream devices (not just flimsy flip phones). After enough pushback, Activision dropped the phone number requirement for Overwatch 2—but kept it for Modern Warfare 2 and all new Modern Warfare accounts.

In late 2020, about 74 million Americans were using prepaid phone plans. While we don’t know how many of those were Activision fans, it’s likely that more Overwatch and Call of Duty players use prepaid phone plans than Activision thinks. The developer has already experienced enough turmoil ahead of its major releases thanks to a series of DDoS attacks, which our colleagues at IGN covered last week. On top of that, those who have already played Overwatch 2 have been less than thrilled with their experiences. Whether Activision can afford to keep excluding customers, only the games’ official releases will tell.

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