In an effort to curb the torrent of cheaters in Call of Duty: Warzone, new PC users, playing the free version that isn’t part of Modern Warfare, will now have to provide a phone number for SMS authentication in order to take part.
Infinity Ward recently announced the security update on Twitter.
Security Update: We have initiated two-step SMS authentication for new #Warzone PC users, who log in as free to play as another step to provide an additional layer of security for players.
— Infinity Ward (@InfinityWard) May 12, 2020
I repeat: this only applies to new PC users playing the free version that doesn’t come with Modern Warfare.
Warzone currently has over 60 million players, is free to play without owning Modern Warfare, and includes crossplay between PC and console players; making it more susceptible to cheaters. The 2FA update only applies to PC players because that’s the platform of choice for the vast majority of the cheaters. It’s not impossible to cheat on console, but it is a lot harder.
Since this two-step authentication only applies to new players, it’ll potentially slow down the inflow of miscreants, but will do nothing about the ones that are already playing the game. Existing cheaters will hopefully be weeded out by the cheater matchmaking system and upgraded reporting features.
Via GameSpot.