Why cant I change my gamertag without paying?

SirSloth_ · May 20, 2025

I tried changing my username today. It had told me that on my first time of changing my gamertag that it would be free of charge. I put in the gamertag that I wanted to change to. But just after I put in the gamertag it had told me to re-log in to my account and that there was an error. I signed back in and my gamertag was still the same as before. I tried changing my gamertag to the one that I wanted but it told me that I would need to pay for it, which didnt make any sense because it didn't even change my gamertag. Please help.

:)

Faline C

Hello SirSloth_, I'm sorry to hear you're having trouble changing your gamertag. I can understand why losing that first free change would be annoying. I'm happy to help you try and get the bottom of it.

It could be an issue with your account. If you try it on a different device or browser and the result doesn't change, you might need to talk to Xbox. I suggest you check the instructions provided by Belen T.C.on this thread:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/xbox/forum/...

Let me know if that helps! If you have any other questions, I'm happy to help in any way that I can.

ngocphi

If you read the complete line

You get one free change if you didn't choose your name

Since you already have a custom gamertag you already used it

Therefore must pay for the 2nd time

JosephG7

I was wondering if theres any chance I can change my gamertag back to its orginal because I accidentally changed it now I cant change it back without paying and my gamertag before was longer than 12 characters and I cant change it to its orginal
even if I did pay

Hi

Only the first change is free, the rest you must pay.. You also cannot have a GT of more than 12 characters, since it was possible in the old GT system, now not.

Dominik Wandlowsky

But then i lose my free gamertag change. And have to pay 10€ for only one required change.

Why cant just an employee resets my gamertag to something random like the frist time you register.

Then i just change my name to "Contexys"

steeledwand7664

There is no way to get a free change. You'll have to pay if you want to change it again.

In my case I registered my Gamertag with a space. This also marked the same tag without a space as reserved. I had to pay a fee to change my Gamertag back to the default name I was assigned, then pay again to change it to a version
without a space. Absurd and infuriating.

I wouldn't expect any understanding or humanity out of customer support. They will just recite policy and practice canned empathy.

First off xbox gamertags are the same thing with or without spaces for instance in your gamer tag heavy felon would be the same as heavyfelon so that's why it marked it as reserved.

Why cant I change my gamertag without paying?