Gamertags from the original Xbox that were not migrated to the 360 will be reset starting on Wednesday at 2pm ET and throughout the day. Approximiately one million tags will be apart of this.
To be eligible to claim one of these gamertags your account must currently have xbox live gold + have 1 year (or more) tenure. To check if you have tenure go to your xbox one profile and you should see a number on the bottom left of the screen. Gamertag change is $9.99.
To check if the tag(s) you are interested in will be available, sign into xbox.com and then go to "https://account.xbox.com/en-US/Profile?GamerTag=" After the = sign enter in the gamertag you wish to check. If it has a white/blank avatar + no gamerscore it will more than likely be available. If the page gives you an error that means that there is either a spaced out letter version of the tag created (A A A is the same as AAA) or it is a banned tag. If you have any questions lemme know. Thought this was pretty sweet. TONS of ridiculously nice gamertags will be available.
https://majornelson.com/2016/05/16/recycled-xbox-gamertags-releasing-may...
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 timeAccess 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.