MSFT Account / gamertag

The gamertag system does not only include xbox profiles, but other MSFT programs as well, such as Zune, etc. Just because the gamertag doesn' show as playing games, doesn't mean that it isn't being used. MSFT wil not remove a gamertag from somebody unles
it violates the Code of Conduct or the owner requests a change. Sorry.

Having the same exact issue. Even though my msft account is linked to my Ubisoft account. Everything is good on Ubisoft but not msft….annoying.

The closest thing to deleting a gamertag available is to cancel your entire account. That would effectively remove the tag from the system, but it would not be available for use by other gamers until MSFT decided to allow it back into circulation there is
no concrete timeframe as to when that might happen.

I had the issue of losing my old gamertag when I switched from Xbox to Xbox360. This was several years ago now. MSFT refused to do anything after several requests so I stopped paying for Xbox Live.

I was just about to buy a PS4 but thought I'd check my old gamertag. Guess what? It is available! They seem to have released the old gamertags!

Unfortunately MSFT want me to pay to get my old gamertag back. The site says you get one change for free. All I wanted was to get my old tag back. I was forced to get a new tag because of what I believe to be a MSFT database issue.

It's a shame since I wanted to stay loyal to Xbox.

Back to looking at that PS4 purchase...

Gamertags are shared across Xbox LIVE, Windows LIVE, Zune, and other MSFT services. They also do not take spaces or capitalization into account. So just because "Link Boots" does not show up as a gamertag that you can be friends with, doesn't mean that the
tag isn't a real one. It could be part of another service or it could be "LinkBoots", "LI NK Boo ts", etc.