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UPDATED: Recycled Xbox Gamertags Releasing May 18th

Gamer Tag

UPDATE: Just a reminder Xbox fans: today is the day you have been waiting for! At 11:00 am PT, we will start releasing nearly one million Gamertags to our valued Xbox Live Gold customers with active subscriptions and at least 1 year of cumulative Xbox Live Gold tenure.  These Gamertags will be released over a 24-hour period, to give our fans in various countries an equal chance to get one. 

Have questions about how to change your Gamertag?  Check out our help pages here.  Remember, if your Gamertag was created for you when you initially signed up for Xbox (meaning you did not choose it yourself), you can change it one time for free. Additional Xbox Gamertag changes cost extra. If you created your own Gamertag at signup and want to change it, you will be charged (fee varies by region and currency).

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Starting on Wednesday, May 18th @2:00pm ET / 11:00AM PT, we will begin releasing nearly one million Gamertags to our valued Xbox Live Gold members with active subscriptions and at least 1 year of cumulative Xbox Live Gold tenure. These Gamertags will be released over a 24-hour period, to give our fans in various countries an equal chance to get one.

These Gamertags are from accounts abandoned from the original Xbox era, the same source of Gamertags we used in our 2011 release. These accounts never migrated to Xbox 360 and as a result they have been inactive for quite some time.

While it may be challenging to find the exact Gamertag you want, keep trying, as there are many great Gamertags that will be released. Although we can’t share the actual list, we can tell you that many of the available Gamertags are in the following categories:

  • Proper Names
  • Pop culture references (Entertainment, sports, gaming)
  • Types of Food
  • Geography and Travel
  • Science and Technology
  • Math and Numbers
  • Animals
  • Some of the greatest inventions of all time

Access to these newly-released Gamertags will be available on Xbox.com, which is the most convenient way to make a Gamertag change. Xbox Live Gold members can also access these Gamertags within the Xbox App on Windows 10 and on the Xbox One console. Xbox 360 owners will need to use Xbox.com, the Xbox App on Windows 10, or an Xbox One console to participate given that access to these newly-released Gamertags is not available from an Xbox 360 console. Click here to change your Gamertag on the web.

To determine the tenure of your Xbox Live Gold account, view your Profile on an Xbox One console or on the Xbox App on Windows 10. Changing your Gamertag won’t impact your Gamerscore, Achievements, or your Friends list.

Remember, we rely on your feedback to bring the features you want to Xbox Live, so keep the suggestions coming!

For more information on this and other Xbox News, check out Xbox Wire.