Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II on PC will require a text-enabled mobile phone number in order to play. Activision confirmed the news today in an article discussing its RICOCHET Anti-Cheat system, noting that SMS verification is critical to its anti-cheat enforcement efforts. The company also clarified that SMS verification data is being used for security purposes only and won’t be used for marketing. Call of Duty: Warzone players who are already verified will not be required to provide any additional information to access Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and Warzone 2.0.
From the official Call of Duty blog:
A text-enabled mobile phone number is required to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II on PC. Existing Call of Duty: Warzone players that have previously verified their account will not be required to provide any additional information to access Modern Warfare II and Warzone 2.0.
The SMS policy for Modern Warfare II and Warzone 2.0 on Battle.net is the same as the requirement for Call of Duty: Warzone on PC, which was implemented in May 2020. A mobile phone number must be linked to your Steam Account to play Modern Warfare II on that platform.
SMS verification is critical to our anti-cheat enforcement efforts, tackling illicit account creation at its source. This helps our security team to maintain account and game security in order to provide a safe, fair, and fun gaming experience for all our players. In August 2022, we updated the SMS policy for new players of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019), requiring a text-enabled mobile phone number to play the game. Prior to this change, new accounts in Modern Warfare could access Warzone without a SMS security check. As the illicit account market adjusted to our security enforcement, #TeamRICOCHET started seeing more cheaters attempt to access Warzone from Modern Warfare to bypass the SMS policy, so the security team recommended the update to further combat the illicit account market.
The SMS requirement for game access is used for security purposes only. Call of Duty does not use SMS verification data for marketing purposes.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II officially launches on October 28 for PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Battle.net and Steam. Anyone who pre-orders a digital edition of the game can play the full campaign up to a week early, starting October 20, 2022.