Modern Warfare 2 wants your phone number before you can play on PC

Activision Blizzard has released the system requirements for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's open beta, including the rather oddball insistence that PC players "must" have their phone number linked to their Battle.net or Steam account. I doubt Bobby Kotick's going to be using it for late night booty calls but, all the same, why does a game need your mobile number to run on your PC?

Beta access is as ever predicated on pre-orders, and is more like early access to a finished product than a beta, so these requirements can be taken as applying to the final game. The biggest surprise is how relatively modest the requirements are for one of the biggest series in gaming: Modern Warfare 2 will run at minimum specs on a GTX 960, a card that launched in January 2015.

Modern Warfare 2 minimum requirements (1080p, 60fps, low settings)

• OS: Windows 10, 64 Bit
• CPU: Intel Core i5-3570 or AMD Ryzen 5 1600X
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 or AMD Radeon RX 470
• RAM: 8GB 
• STORAGE: 25GB
• SOUND: Any DirectX Compatible card

The recommended requirements aren't too much worse either, though you will need a decent amount of RAM. I also like how Activision Blizzard has a specific category for sound cards, but doesn't actually specify any sound cards at any point.

Modern Warfare 2 recommended requirements (1080p, 60fps, high settings)

• OS: Windows 10, 64 Bit 
• CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K or AMD Ryzen 7 1800X
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 580
• RAM: 16GB RAM
• STORAGE: 25GB
• SOUND CARD: any DirectX Compatible card

The recommended GPU being a GTX 1060 shows nothing so much as how broad Call of Duty's appeal is. This card is now fairly described as 'venerable', but it's a workhorse and the publisher wants as many people as possible to be able to play this title. Still: the fact that it will apparently give you 1080p and 60fps in a 2022 tentpole AAA release is decent to say the least.

On that note, there isn't a huge step up between the minimum and the game's recommended settings⁠—expect Modern Warfare 2 to have plenty of options for the graphics lovers and their mighty rigs.

PC players who pre-order will be able to access the open beta from September 22-26. Those who pre-order will also have early access to the Modern Warfare 2 campaign on October 20, one week before the game launches on October 28. Yes, it's enough to make you nostalgic for a time when games had one release date.

There'll be more on Modern Warfare 2 soon: the Call of Duty: Next showcase happens tomorrow, September 15, and will feature a multiplayer reveal and some sort of update on the next Warzone.