PSA: 1 Million Xbox Gamertags Being Freed Up Today, Here's How to Get One

Want a new gamertag? Today's your day, as nearly 1 million old Xbox gamertags are being made available today, May 18. At 11 AM PST / 2 PM EST, Microsoft will free up the gamertags. They will be available to any Xbox Live Gold member who has accrued a year's worth of Gold status since 2002.

These gamertags come from original Xbox accounts that were later abandoned, Microsoft explained earlier this week.

Microsoft is not releasing all of the gamertags at once, but instead over a period of 24 hours. This is being done "to give our fans in various countries an equal chance to get one."

You can pick up one of the new gamertags from Xbox.com, inside the Xbox App on Windows 10, or through an Xbox One. Access to the new gamertags will not be made available on the Xbox 360 console, but you can grab one from Xbox.com or Windows 10.

This is the Xbox.com page you will want to bookmark. You can change your gamertag once for free, but after that, there is a fee.

Microsoft is not going to publish the list of gamertags, but the company says there will be "many great" ones available in categories including:

• 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 time

Good luck!