Upcoming Name of Responsibility has annoying telephone quantity verification requirement

Name of Responsibility: Fashionable Warfare II would require gamers to register with a telephone quantity on Battle.web to play the sport, with a view to make gamers chargeable for their actions. The sport is about for launch later this month on October twenty eighth. 

The telephone verification system, which Activision Blizzard calls SMS Shield, is supposed to chop down on poisonous conduct from gamers, stopping them from creating limitless new accounts to evade bans or to cheat. “Limiting the variety of free accounts {that a} single individual can create helps maintain gamers accountable for his or her actions and, in flip, reduces toxicity and dishonest and ensures a optimistic neighborhood expertise for all gamers,” Activision Blizzard’s help web page reads. 

The issue is that SMS Shield is designed for text-enabled cell phones, and doesn’t deal with all telephone numbers equally. A separate Battle.web help web page notes that “cell phones with pay as you go plans could not work with the telephone notification service.” It additionally doesn’t work with VoIP numbers. That restricts the service to gamers with postpaid mobile plans, which might not be reasonably priced or simply accessible to many gamers all over the world.

One Fashionable Warfare II beta participant told PCGamer final month that they have been requested for a “postpaid telephone quantity” to start out the sport, with Battle.web refusing to simply accept the quantity related to their pay as you go Cricket Wi-fi plan. “This appears very unsuitable to require online game gamers to enter right into a contract with a telecom firm earlier than being allowed to play the sport they paid for,” they stated.

Requiring gamers to offer a telephone quantity isn’t new (Dota 2 and Rainbow Six Siege each require them for ranked play) however there haven’t been widespread experiences of issues with pay as you go telephone plans with these earlier implementations. One participant we spoke to was blocked from taking part in Overwatch 2 once they entered the identical quantity they’d used to efficiently play Dota 2 for years.

It’s unclear whether or not Activision Blizzard’s telephone quantity necessities will apply equally for Fashionable Warfare II gamers throughout each Battle.web and Steam, given the sport is on the market throughout each PC digital shops. Some commenters on Reddit report being requested for a telephone quantity when attempting to play the beta via Steam, whereas others stated they weren’t. Overwatch 2 is presently solely accessible by way of Battle.web.

Within the case of Overwatch 2, Activision Blizzard has stated that it’s stress-free its SMS Shield necessities for anybody who performed the unique Overwatch and has a linked Battle.web account. It’s unclear if there’ll be comparable allowances made for Name of Responsibility: Fashionable Warfare II gamers. A spokesperson for the corporate didn’t instantly reply to The Verge’s request for remark.