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Microsoft's Bringing Dead Gamertags Back To Life

by Harry Monogenis, posted on 01 March 2011 / 8,159 Views

Xbox LIVE's Director of Programming, Larry Hryb, better known as "Major Nelson", has today announced that "previously used and unavailable (dead)" Xbox Live Gamertags will be made available once more. So, for those of you who had a LIVE account on the original Xbox, but didn't transfer it onto the Xbox 360 will now have the opportunity to see if the name is available to use.

"This process will take some time to complete, and no we can't tell you when the Gamertag you want might be available," Hryb began. 

"If you are interested, you should check back regularly as we are reviving Gamertags daily. Sign into Xbox Live and go to the My Xbox channel, then select Change Gamertag. From here you can either choose from the random name generator, or you can enter a specific Gamertag to see if it's available."


11 Comments

XanderZane
XanderZane (on 02 March 2011)

I created a new GameTag when I got my XBox 360. I did transfer the information from my old Gametag to my new one though. I like my 360 GameTag. It's the same as my Avatar on many game sites. It's original and I'm not changing it. Why pay money to change your Gametag? That's just stupid. It should be free. I've seen gamers use similar tags to mine, but I'm the original.

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trasharmdsister12
trasharmdsister12 (on 02 March 2011)

Wh.... it's not worth it.

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PX54
PX54 (on 02 March 2011)

@MessiaH yeah, considering 1600 points cost on average $19.99 and it cost 800 points to change your gamertag, is it really worth changing?

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NotStan
NotStan (on 02 March 2011)

lololool @ trolls flooding the article in a space of hours

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mundus6
mundus6 (on 01 March 2011)

Finally after 6 years i might be able to get back my old gamertag which i lost since i made a new account when i bought 360 since i forgot the email it was associated with and i had sold my Xbox 1 before i got 360.

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Saintdante
Saintdante (on 01 March 2011)

Ugggh so now they let you revive your dead gamertag. Since I wasn't paying for XBL when the 360 came out I was unable to transfer my old gamertag so I already have a new one =(.

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Cooltown
Cooltown (on 01 March 2011)

Should have been an option 5 years ago when the 360 came out. I thought I pay for all these kind of "premium" services like getting my old Xbox Live gamertag on the 360, which is why you pay for Live and PSN is free. OH WAIT. I quit paying for my live account 3 years ago and haven't turned on my 360 in 2 years. Middle finger to your MS. You already lost me as a customer over this and I'm not comin back. In other news, I got my good old name on PS3's PSN on day 1 with no BS.

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Baalzamon
Baalzamon (on 01 March 2011)

@enrage, correct, even Starcraft 2 charges if you want to change it...however, they do give 1 free name change (I think that was because a lot of people didn't know the original name would be their account name though)

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enrageorange
enrageorange (on 01 March 2011)

almost every constantly online service that gives you the option to change your name and keep the info associated with the account charges money for it. Fanboys like messia will nitpick everything.

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JOKA_
JOKA_ (on 01 March 2011)

Came here to post that vvv

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MessiaH
MessiaH (on 01 March 2011)

so apparently you gotta pay $10 to change your name. is this true? the things that MS pulls on its user base and gets away with every single time just shocks me.

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