Call of Duty Warzone adds 2FA requirement to combat PC cheaters

Infinity Ward has initiated two-factor authentication for Call of Duty Warzone on PC, as it attempts to combat cheating in the free-to-play game.

In April the developer pledged to operate a “zero tolerance” policy on players who use aimbots, wallhacks and similar cheats with the deployment of dedicated security updates.

The latest security measure, announced on Tuesday, will require new free-to-play players on PC to authenticate their accounts using SMS. The intention is likely to make players who cheat easier to track.

Players who access Warzone via Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will not be required to activate two-factor authentication.

The issue of aim bots and similar cheats is made even more significant considering PC players can play against those on consoles – and only PS4 users can disable cross-platform matchmaking.

In the past few weeks Infinity Ward has implemented several features designed to combat cheating in Call of Duty: Warzone.

Firstly, it made sure users who reported suspected cheaters received confirmation in-game when a player was banned. Additionally, matchmaking was updated to match suspected cheaters together, and report-a-player functionality was added to the killcam and spectator screens.

Infinity Ward also said it’s deployed “additional dedicated security updates” and increased resources across its backend teams.

Publisher Activision claimed in April to have banned over 70,000 players for cheating in Call of Duty: Warzone.

“We take all forms of cheating very seriously, maintaining a level and fair playing field for everyone is among our highest priorities,” the publisher said.

“We have been enforcing account bans since Day 1 of Warzone’s release.”

Activision announced last week that Warzone has attracted over 60 million players since releasing on March 10, while 2019’s Modern Warfare has sold more copies and has more players “than any prior Call of Duty title at this point after its release”.

The publisher also said the next premium Call of Duty game, which is expected to be a Black Ops title from Treyarch, “already looks great and remains on track for release later this year”.