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[Captain Zyrain]

You know what sucks though? If for example Bread were to be recycled but someone made a gamertag called b r e a d on 360 or Xbone, that's considered the same name so that person owns any variation of Bread.

Hey back off

Uh oh.. Someone about to get.. sliced!

 

[thenexus6]

Even though it says you can change it once for free?

I went to change my gamertag. It said "free" on that page, but once you go through it says £7.99.

 

[TangoAlphaLima]

Wait there were only a little over 2 million Live accounts just before the 360's launch:

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2005/07/778/

Did like half of people with an original Xbox just bail entirely?

Back when XBL launched, a bunch of games came with free 3 month trials. I had at least 3 different Gamertags on OG Xbox, as I'd just cancel the trial before I was billed for a subscription, then would open a new account under a slightly different Gamertag with another free 3 month trial voucher. So at least 3 of these recycled Gamertags were probably mine.

 

[jelly]

If you sign up for gamertag on an Xbox, you get assigned a random one and can change it once for free. Think that's the only time it applies but maybe they changed it for web sign ups too.

 

[Rocky_Balboa]

Already got Rocky Balboa the last time they deleted abandoned accounts. No need for anything else.

 

[Shpeshal Nick]

But you still have to pay to change gamertag

Of course you do, otherwise you'd have dickheads changing their name on a weekly or daily basis.

 

[dc89]

I went to change my gamertag. It said "free" on that page, but once you go through it says £7.99.

Misleading much :lol

 

[TheSpoiler]

TheSpoiler does sound stupid, but maybe one day PSN will let everyone change their name.

The sad thing is, it's not even my PSN name.

It's actually a fucking 4chan reference that's old and dated.

Ugh.

 

[jelly]

hmmm... so somebody apparently already reclaimed my original one.

Is this the first time Microsoft's reset their tags? Cause everytime I've tried to reclaim mine they've said it's taken.

They started doing it many years ago but people just snapped them up to sell for profit so they stopped. The Gold stipulation and year tenure may help a little this time but who knows.

 

[pizzacat]

I'm going to have to go with kanyewest

 

[Ryaaan14]

Gonna grab blame space

 

[GAMEPROFF]

How can I check how long a account was not used?

 

[Defect]

Hey back off

I just looked it up and that was a glitch that people were doing during the 2011 recycle. Pretty sure you can't do it anymore.

Also B r e a d is taken.

 

[cyba89]

Are 'Poo' and 'Ass' taken?

 

[Dreams-Visions]

https://majornelson.com/2016/05/16/recycled-xbox-gamertags-releasing-may-18th/?linkId=24558209

What are you hoping to grab?

you think I'mma tell you?!!?

Gonna grab blame space

:O

 

[krang]

One of those names is "Kinect", isn't it MS?

 

[Aztechnology]

Damnit...

 

[Conrad Link]

I'm tempted to try and reclaim my original Link NZ from back when Xbox Live 'launched' in my country and they told us it wasn't set up properly yet so just use the Australian one, problem is when it actually did officially launch in NZ we had to make a new account again. >_>

I'm pretty use to Linkx NZ now though I suppose.

 

[CosmicQueso]

Damnit...

Could you enlarge that picture a bit, please? Having a hard time reading it on my 42 foot tall monitor.

 

[Jawmuncher]

Finally I can become Dino crisis

 

[Jarrod38]

While thinking of some new Gamertags I typed one in it says it is taken but when I went to look the actual profile up nothing comes up. So just hope that Gamertag will be available.

 

[Azure Dream]

Think Microsoft will let me have Azure?

Spoiler

NOW I AM THE CLOUD

 

[DannyDanger]

nvm

 

[Homeboyd]

Dibbs on "Koro" BACK OFF

 

[PanicFreak]

I'm downright curious.

"Toast"
"PrintingPress"
"EtchASketch"
"Pockets"
"BeerKoozie"

Tesla Coil

 

[oo7]

Lots of good ones I'm typing in look like they will be available.

 

[Lettuce]

Wonder if 'Thunder Cunt' is going?

 

[bjork]

My original one says last seen over 30 days ago and the avatar is white. Does that mean it might be freed up?

I mean, I have Disaster Report and I think that's pretty cool, but I could be swayed.

 

[matrixman92]

Back when I was young and didn't know what a gamer tag really was, I used my actual real life name. First and last name. I ended up changing my gamer tag years later, but someone actually took my original gamer tag. Someone was actually waiting around for that tag to become available. They took it really quickly after I switched it. Couldn't believe it

 

[Mortimer Brewster]

Hoping for the FluffyButterfly.

 

[Mass Effect]

So many of these will be taken by assholes on Se7ensins or TTG and then sold for a profit. Those guys are fucking nuts about OG gamertags.

Hope they have a bunch of spare accounts with at least one year of Gold tenure and plan to sub each of these accounts to Gold, otherwise they can't do that.

 

[GAMEPROFF]

My original one says last seen over 30 days ago and the avatar is white. Does that mean it might be freed up?

I mean, I have Disaster Report and I think that's pretty cool, but I could be swayed.

Good point, how do I save mine?

 

[friskykillface]

I remember making about 5 gamertags when they gave you 1 month of live for free for each gamertag

Maybe I should bring back one of those gametags before someone takes it

 

[Korosenai]

Dibbs on "Throatsoaker" BACK OFF

DO NOT MAKE THIS PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE EDIT THE POST PLEASE THANK YOU

 

[FrsDvl]

Woah, that means I can put all the vowels back into my username.

 

[daveo42]

I'm downright curious.

"Toast"
"PrintingPress"
"EtchASketch"
"Pockets"
"BeerKoozie"

I'm sure alot of the sexual tools are up for grabls!

 

[TheUnsunghero26]

Even though it says you can change it once for free?

"DoggishCat12026" is an amazing suggestion.

 

[Aztechnology]

Could you enlarge that picture a bit, please? Having a hard time reading it on my 42 foot tall monitor.

I thought I quoted it. My bad lol.

 

[Theonik]

I'm pretty sure I have an OG Xbox one with my actual name stuck in limbo. I kinda like my current one though.

 

[Cth]

Still have my short 3 letter gamertag grandfathered in

Think I'll keep it.

EDIT: That being said, Cthulhu seems to recently been reregistered?! 10 gamerpoints, last achievement in 2015.

 

[Les]

I love my current GT but this is pretty exciting.

Anyway to know for sure if they'll be popping back up? Is the error page more of a lock and the 0 gamerscore/white avatar not so much?

 

[The_Dama]

The GT I want hasnt been used in 7 years. Wonder if it will be up for grabs

 

[The Dutch Slayer]

But you still have to pay to change gamertag

I don't mind that at all.
That means people can't change it all the time.
And means people take the name "somewhat" seriously.

And I would GLADLY pay PSN/Sony to change my name on psn.

 

[Netherscourge]

If you signed in on Windows Live, does it count as as "activity"?

Or only on Xboxes?

 

[The Dutch Slayer]

If you signed in on Windows Live, does it count as as "activity"?

Or only on Xboxes?

No just have your account have an active use on it, I get my games with gold every month trough xbox.com and have not used my XBO for about a year now and I'm fine.
Just have activity on that account.

 

[Geist-]

I'm going to be stressed out on Wednesday it seems. :-(

 

[Banjo-Kazooie]

Use this: http://live.xbox.com/Profile?gamertag=

(Fill in gamertag at end)

If it comes up as zero GS and an avatar this is a white silhouette it's a good chance it will be freed

To expand on this, if you want to look up a name with a space in it you need to type the following between the words "%20" example: The%20Wolf

If its asking you to sign in first, then sign in and then copy and paste the above into your address bar once signed in

 

[bidguy]

so whats the status for unused tags ? just white pic with no gamerscore ? what if the tag has friends listed ?

 

[jediyoshi]

Time to scoop up all the animu names.

 

[Banjo-Kazooie]

so whats the status for unused tags ? just white pic with no gamerscore ? what if the tag has friends listed ?

There's no guarantee of anything really, I just know that the older tags are the ones who have no GS and a white silhouette avatar (that means they never signed into a 360 and set up their avatar which I think was a requirement. It's just a matter of age so I think those are prime candidates for what they are saying may be freed up.

They do specifically say in Major's write up: "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"

So I don't think it matters if they have friends...if they never migrated to 360 (no avatar) then they should be freed at some point (?). Just a guess though haha