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Chittagong · May 5, 2011

Every year around this time I check whether Microsoft would have got their act together and figured out how to migrate the country of my Xbox Live account. And every year, I found out that they haven't.

I believe it is because to people living in Redmond, Washington it might be incomprehensible that anyone would move to another country. But in EU it's business as usual to us - it's like moving to another state in the US. Or it might be because of content restrictions - but to be honest, I don't care. I just want to keep my account history.

So, every few years I send them a message. And because I know for a fact many Xbox employees read NeoGAF, I tend to post it here too.

Chittagong said:
I need to change my country of residence in my Xbox Live account.

Every few years I send you this same wish - I have moved from Finland to UK, and I need a way to migrate my Xbox Live account with me. I would even pay for such a feature. And wouldn't care if all my content wouldn't transfer perfectly.

As it stands, you always return to me with two options - first is to create a new account in UK and lose 6 years of my Xbox Live history and reset my gamer score. The second is keep my Finnish account but never buy anything from Xbox Live Marketplace because I can't.

Both of these options are not desirable to myself nor do I think they are to Microsoft. Lose my history, or my custom. Not good options.

Which is why I once again renew my request - please bring country migration to Xbox Live, and allow me to continue being a loyal subscriber.

Thanks for listening. I love Xbox Live, please help me buy things from it.

LQX · May 5, 2011

Chittagong said:
Every year around this time I check whether Microsoft would have got their act together and figured out how to migrate the country of my Xbox Live account. And every year, I found out that they haven't.

I believe it is because to people living in Redmond, Washington it might be incomprehensible that anyone would move to another country. But in EU it's business as usual to us - it's like moving to another state in the US. Or it might be because of content restrictions - but to be honest, I don't care. I just want to keep my account history.

So, every few years I send them a message. And because I know for a fact many Xbox employees read NeoGAF, I tend to post it here too.

Really...moving to another country in the EU is like moving to another state in the US? I doubt that.

N.A · May 5, 2011

Can't you just buy EU MS point cards?

Castor Krieg · May 5, 2011

LQX said:
Really...moving to another country in the EU is like moving to another state in the US? I doubt that.

Given that EU labor market is open - yes, it is like that. For high-skilled professionals it's not big of a deal, majority of laws are unified according to EU principles.

Brazil · May 5, 2011

LQX said:
Really...moving to another country in the EU is like moving to another state in the US? I doubt that.

It kinda is. In terms of burocracy, at least.

Chittagong · May 5, 2011

LQX said:
Really...moving to another country in the EU is like moving to another state in the US? I doubt that.

yep, there is pretty close to zero hassle involved. I've done it. No work permits, no living permits, just inform the local authorities you are there.

N.A said:
Can't you just buy EU MS point cards?

Nope, I have points but content is locked to country. So I can't buy my Dead Space 2 prequel or Call of Duty Black Ops map pack. I have probably saved hundreds of pounds already.

Neuromancer · May 5, 2011

Have you emailed or tweeted Major Nelson? He's not a commanding officer in the Microsoft Army for nothing.

blamite · May 5, 2011

I could've sworn you could do this... I thought I saw a video on the dashboard once a while ago with instructions?

Chittagong · May 5, 2011

blamite said:
I could've sworn you could do this... I thought I saw a video on the dashboard once a while ago with instructions?

Technically it's possible, and even fully implemented - but they implemented it to just 9 countries.

Curufinwe · May 5, 2011

It's really bizarre that you still can't change your country and keep your gamertag.

milsorgen · May 5, 2011

Curufinwe said:
It's really bizarre that you still can't change your country and keep your gamertag.

Bizarre. That's the perfect word for the way Microsoft handles it's web based properties, Live was a success but only because there was no competition, no Gmail to their Hotmail so to speak.

params7 · May 5, 2011

At least you can change names, PSN can't even do that!

neptunes · May 5, 2011

I'm also puzzled as to why we still can't do this, even if just between Canada and US. What is the real reason why this can't be done?

8bit · May 5, 2011

If you have a payment method in the UK, set up a new account with that. From my experience you can use any content from your new account with your old one.

I agree it is stupid though, my main account is based in the UK, but I live in Switzerland and I had a hell of a time getting Dead Rising : Case West working until I created a new Swiss account.

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Another year passes, and Xbox Live account country still can't be changed

Chittagong

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