Inactive Gamertags ever being released (again)?

There won't be another mass release. In 2016 they updated the policy that if a person doesn't sign into their Xbox account within 5 years, it will be released. If they don't sign into their Microsoft account within 2 years, that will be closed which should free up the tag as well. There's no way to know for sure how long an account has been active since they are used for multiple Microsoft services.

How do you know the account isn't being used on another service other than xbox live?

You have no way of knowing if an account is inactive or not.

Gamertags aren't an on demand service,if it says the tag is taken then that's it,you'll either have to wait to see if it ever gets freed up or pic a different gamertag.

Before the rule change there had only ever been 2 times when inactive gamertags were released since xbox live started & even then not all gamertags were released.At least now you have a chance of getting the tag you want if it isn't being used.

its shows its released but in reality it is probably blocked by an inactive spaced version. Gamertag will not be usuable imo until the inactive spaced version is removed. Which i think microsoft should remove since the gamertag is being wasted.

Inactive spaced gamertags should be removed and released. They are inactive, 100 percent inactive place holding gamertags.

Hello there,

Thank you for posting here on the Xbox forums. It is up to Microsoft as to when unused gamertags become available to the masses. After a certain amount of time where the Gamertag is inactive, the gamertag will then be released.

Also, 3 years ago Microsoft released a million inactive gamertags to the public. I'm hoping they do that again soon!

Hope this helps!