Activision has announced that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II on PC will require a text-enabled phone number to play, whereas the console versions will not have any requirement of the sort.

A RICOCHET anti-cheat post on the Call of Duty Blog details this decision, saying that SMS verification is a critical component of the ongoing anti-cheat efforts. Any existing players will not be required to provide any additional information to play Modern Warfare II and Warzone 2.0, and the company has assured that the SMS data will not be used for marketing purposes.

Players will remember that the same requirement was imposed for Overwatch 2, but was soon removed due to a number of complaints from players who were unable to play the game because of the restriction.

PS and Xbox players won’t have to worry about this requirement when Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II launches on October 28, 2022 for the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, and PC via Battlenet and Steam.