I’m looking to change my Xbox gamertag, but I’ve read that even though the gamertag is supposedly not linked to licenses or data storage, there have been instances where people lost saves or other data on older consoles like the Xbox 360 (link: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/691088-xbox-one/78847935). I do not have my 360 backed up because of a red dot issue I need to try to fix, but don’t want to do something now that’ll end up messing with my saves the next time I connect my 360 to the internet to sign in or something. Can changing my gamertag affect my saves or any data on any of my Xbox devices?
#Could changing gamertag lead to data loss?
kind tangle
honest grotto
I’m looking to change my Xbox gamertag, but I’ve read that even though the gamer...
No, your gamertag is not the key component to your account and what saves and everything is based off of, it's a unique ID number that is associated with your gamertag, your Microsoft account, etc. When you change your gamertag, it's just updating the gamertag that is associated with that unique ID number, that's all.
kind tangle
No, your gamertag is not the key component to your account and what saves and ev...
So the ID number is what connects everything together and is the crucial thing that shouldn’t, and can’t, be changed, right? What you’re saying is that changing my gamertag will have no effect on anything else?
honest grotto
So the ID number is what connects everything together and is the crucial thing t...
Correct. The ID number is something you can't see, can't be changed, and is what connects everything together. 🙂
kind tangle
Alright thank you very much
warm sandal
To clarify one thing though - you will need to delete and redownload your profile on any Xbox 360 device after you change your gamertag... and when you do that, be careful to only delete the profile, not the profile and all items.