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<\/figure>\n Pour one out for your homies because the\u00a0Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 <\/em>reboot\u2014and new accounts for 2019’s Modern Warfare<\/em>\u2014currently requires a registered phone number to Battle.net, publisher Activision announced. This requirement follows a similar move made by sister series\u00a0Overwatch 2<\/em>, which Blizzard has since (mostly) recanted following some immense public backlash.<\/p>\n Read More:<\/strong> Overwatch 2<\/em>‘s Phone Requirement: \u2018It\u2019s Like Being Punished For Being Poor\u2019 [Update: Gone For Most]<\/span><\/p>\n Last week, Blizzard confirmed that a majority of Overwatch 2<\/em> players would need to register a phone number to their accounts in order to play the buggy-as-hell hero shooter<\/span>. It was a controversial stance, something folks\u2014especially those with prepaid, landline, or VOIP phones\u2014likened to \u201cbeing punished for being poor.\u201d You can imagine the criticism the company got, considering how many people in the U.S. use prepaid phones. (According to a 2020 estimate, there were 74 million prepaid phone users<\/span>.) Following player blowback on the move, Blizzard has since updated its policy, stating that \u201caccounts that were not connected to Battle.net as well as new accounts\u201d would still need to meet the SMS Protect requirements to access\u00a0Overwatch 2<\/em>. While this may be some semblance of a good decision, it seems that not everyone at Activision Blizzard got the memo on why this blew up. Modern Warfare 2<\/em> will make everyone, new player or not, connect a phone number to Battle.net to play the shooter.<\/p>\n In an updated blog post<\/span> on Blizzard\u2019s website, the company confirmed that Modern Warfare 2<\/em> and \u201cnewly created Call of Duty: Modern Warfare<\/em> accounts\u201d would require a phone number. The reason for this, Blizzard said, is so that the company can bang your line with \u201cnotifications when important changes are made to your account.\u201d Think stuff like recovering your account name or resetting your password. Typical security procedures. That\u2019s great in theory, at least in that the company wants to fight a real problem, even if the solution really shouldn\u2019t require a phone number at all. But on top of that, prepaid and VOIP phones won\u2019t work. Sigh.<\/p>\n