This might be mainly for US players, but (while the publisher has published the game’s system requirements), Activision Blizzard has made it clear that you need to have a phone number associated with your Battle.net or Steam account to try out the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II’s open beta.

We have no idea why the publisher (soon to be owned by Microsoft) decided to do it because it sounds like Big Brother-ish of Activision Blizzard. In any case, let’s look at the system requirements, which, although they apply to the beta, are unlikely to change significantly “until the store launch”, apart from the amount of free space:

Minimum system requirements (1080p, 60 FPS, low graphics settings):

• OS: Windows 10 (x64, version number not mentioned) or 11
• Processor: Intel Core i5-3570 or AMD Ryzen 5 1600X, or better
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 or AMD Radeon RX 470, or better
• Free storage: 25 GB
• Sound: any DirectX-compatible sound card
• …and this is not mentioned, but DirectX 12

Recommended system requirements (1080p, 60 FPS, high graphics settings):

• Operating system: Windows 10 (x64, version number not mentioned) or 11
• Processor: Intel Core i7-4770K or AMD Ryzen 7 1800X, or better
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• Graphics card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 580, or better
• Free storage: 25 GB
• Sound: any DirectX-compatible sound card
• DirectX: DX12

There’s not a significant difference between the minimum and recommended, but if you want to attract as many gamers as possible, it’s understandable that the threshold is low. The open beta will be available to pre-orderers from September 22 to 26, and they’ll be able to play through the story from October 20 before Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II launches on October 28 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Meanwhile, Activision Blizzard has already banned more than half a million Call of Duty accounts due to the “toxic elements” in the gaming community. Since the launch of the automatic filtering system, 300,000 accounts have been renamed due to offensive usernames/clan names. As a result, the number of reports of this in Call of Duty: Warzone dropped by 55% in August. The publisher also introduced a code of conduct for the franchise with three core values (respect, integrity, stay alert) to “create a positive gaming experience for all players.” It is something that Modern Warfare II beta players will have to adopt.

Source: PCGamer, Gamesindustry