Trying to change my gamertag to a name doesn't exist but is also "unavailable"

No they told me themselves that the account did exist before and was closed in some way, and I'm not interested in any other name I have been wanting this name for many years.

Hello Defeated,

If the account is closed it takes 5 years for the gamer tag to be released. That is if there are no issues with the gamer tag. So if it was closed lets say 2018 you will need to wait until 2023 until it is released. They do this due to the fact there is
a lot of information tied to each gamer tag. AS this has been answered multiple times I will be locking this thread. Patience is a virtue.

Thanks,

Brad

I understand that the gamertag may look as though it is inactive but this may not necessarily be the case. Microsoft. has many services available, both internal and external. It's quite possible that the gamertag could have been set up for use within
one of these other services which would be why it is not available and yet shows no gamerscore.

In this particular case it may be better to try a different gamertag to see if it's still available.

Hey there Luke thanks for taking the time to bring this issue to us.

Short answer is, the support agents were right. There is no set time for Microsoft to release gamertags. A few years ago Microsoft released about a million of them. The only thing we could suggest is to give it a bit more time and look on
Major Nelson since they would be the most updated source of information, news wise. We hope this helps!

Unfortunately if the system won't let you take it there is nothing else that can be done. The gamertag system is in use on other Microsoft services as well so even if it's not in use on an Xbox it may be in use somewhere else which could be why it's unavailable.