• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

FINALLY! You can change your Xbox LIVE country

Chittagong

Gold Member
scMBs.png
For years and years it has been impossible to migrate your Xbox LIVE region / country in case you move to a new country. Over the years I have created threads every once in a while about this. In fact, for 5 years I have had to have a mock Finnish billing address even though I have been living in London, to avoid losing my gaming history and purchases.

Well, lo behold, as 2013 begins Microsoft has finally implemented this feature and it's actually incredibly simple and fast. It's pretty much a single click and everything moves over in an eye blink:

https://live.xbox.com/en-GB/AccountMigration

There are caveats of stuff that might not move, but in my experience they are just to cover Microsoft's back - everything transferred over perfectly for me.

Now I can finally get BBC iPlayer and stop buying Finnish pre-paid Allards like I have had to do in the last few years.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
come on Sony, your turn. Let me make my original PSN back to the UK

(oh and it's a long shot but can I transfer my purchases too?)
 

Ydahs

Member
Nice. I created my account when I purchased Windows 8 and accidentally set my country to US.

Just changed it to Australia :D
 
Is it in some way limited? I imagine you can't constantly change it.

This , any limitations? What will happen to your past purchases? can you switch freely? will you be able to access all your new purchase if you change back? How will it affect the windows phone / windows 8 app store and login?
 

IHaveIce

Banned
Nice, but can you abuse it to get other deals? Or Europeans to get the better apps?

Does the IP still limits what you can download on a different marketplace?


There has also to be a limit how often you can do this.
 

Arjen

Member
Oh man, finally, wil try when i'm at home. Been stuck with an US account for more then 6 years.
 

wrog

Member
For years and years it has been impossible to migrate your Xbox LIVE region / country in case you move to a new country.
FYI, it was possible to migrate Gamertag two years ago. You could move to one of the new XBL countries :)
 

CrunchinJelly

formerly cjelly
Nice, but can you abuse it to get other deals? Or Europeans to get the better apps?

Does the IP still limits what you can download on a different marketplace?


There has also to be a limit how often you can do this.

Says on the link.

Only once every three months.
 

Mindwipe

Member
Does this mean European fans can download Persona 4 Arena from the XBL Marketplace now?

Only if they want to be stuck as US users for three months and lose access to the content that's only available in their region (a UK user would lose iPlayer for example).
 

nOoblet16

Member
They actually had this feature but removed this in late 2011, the reasons they cited were that it was too much work and sometimes it just didn't work. They reimplemented this facility in September 2012 (I think...) and I think I was one of the very first people who have had their region changed (had it changed to UK), the only way to change it that time was to have it changed over the phone by calling their customer care.


Also, you will lose ALL the content that was associated with your account previously meaning you won't be able to redownload anything unless it was downloaded using the same console, I lost all of them.
 

Chittagong

Gold Member
yeah the 3 month rule is a clever way around people abusing the account migration function while making it reasonable for most practical needs (nobody really moves a country on a permanent basis more often than once in 3 months).
 

ToD_

Member
I have tried to change my Dutch account to a US one in the past, but this wasn't allowed. They did allow certain smaller regions to change. Hopefully I will be able to change it this time, though I feel it's a little too late. I already created a new (US based) account that I've made purchases on.

Is there any way to merge accounts?
 
D

Deleted member 80556

Unconfirmed Member
No SONY need to let you change your PSN country and all will be right in the world.

Yes! I need to change this when the Colombian PSN store is up and running.
 

oatmeal

Banned
Do you lose any MSP and your Gold Status?

When I talked to them on the phone in November (right after they initiated this) they said that would happen.

I"m scurred of trying.

(EDIT)
Here’s what moves with you:

Your gamerscore, unlocked achievements, and the rest of your Xbox LIVE profile
Any Microsoft Points already in your account
Any remaining time on your Gold membership

NVM!
 
That's good to know.

I still wish they would make English available for all countries as an option.

I live in Switzerland and have to choose between German and French for Xbox Live content.
 
So, as a European with a European Xbox 360 and account, does this mean I can finally:

1. Download and play Xbox Live Indie games?

2. Use Bing rewards for Microsoft points?

3. Use those new birthday/redeem code/etc. Xbox Live rewards for Microsoft points?

EDIT: Also, is that $1 indie game that was a combination of Halo: CE and Minecraft still being played? I'd probably pick that up now I can (can I?).
 
So does the Microsoft Points on the account stay as is?

I'm guessing all the arcade games you've purchased carry over to the new region too?

Thanks.
 

snap0212

Member
That's good to know.

I still wish they would make English available for all countries as an option.

I live in Switzerland and have to choose between German and French for Xbox Live content.
Can't you just set the system language to whatever? I'm pretty sure my XBLA games are in English (I'm in Germany).
 

Arjen

Member
It worked! Finally i wil no longer be teased by US only functions i won't be able to use, no longer switching to accounts for video content.
It took them long enough, but i'm happy it finally happened.
 

snap0212

Member
Probably will never happen due to the wallet--the one drawback of using actual currency on the stores.
Are you sure that's an actual problem? They could just convert the currency left in your wallet or only let you change the country if you wallet it empty or something like that.
 

Arjen

Member
Hmm, seems like i got an extra month live added in the process as well.
Bought 3 months live on Nov -17, so that would have ended Feb -17.
But now my live ends at March -16
 
Top Bottom