Microsoft to recycle 1 million dormant Xbox Live Gamertags

Have you always wanted a cool username on Xbox Live but were late to the party?

You're in luck. On Wednesday, the online ecosystem will make available nearly 1 million Gamertags linked to abandoned accounts from the original Xbox era, said Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, the company's Xbox Live programming director.

"These accounts never migrated to Xbox 360 and as a result they have been inactive for quite some time," Hryb wrote in a blog post.

Hryb said he couldn't share the list of Gamertags that will be made available but did say that the usernames fall in a variety of categories, including proper names, pop culture references, and food, among others.

The tags will be released at 11 a.m. PT at Xbox.com, the Xbox app on Windows 10 and on the Xbox Oneconsole. To participate in the 24-hour-long name-grab, subscribers must be Xbox Live Gold members with a cumulative Gold tenure of at least one year.