Modern Warfare II players will need to provide a unique phone number
Enlarge / Artist's rendition of an Activision staffer on the lookout for Modern Warfare II players without linked phone numbers on their accounts.
Players who want access to this month's release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II will have to link a unique, text-capable phone number to their Battle.net account.
That's according to a recently updated Blizzard Support page that includes the game in a list of titles that require a linked phone number. The Steam and Battle.net pre-sale pages for the game also note that "a mobile phone number must be linked to your... account to play Modern Warfare II." Archived versions of that Battle.net page suggest that requirement has been listed since at least late September, though PC Gamer was among the first to bring it to wide attention recently.
In justifying the phone number requirement, Blizzard's support page notes that "limiting the number of free accounts that a single person can create helps keep players accountable for their actions and in turn reduces toxicity and cheating and ensures a positive community experience for all players."