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EA_Leeuw's avatar
EA_Leeuw
Icon for Community Manager rankCommunity Manager
3 years ago

Re: Changing Xbox App username - now I can't use EA Play anymore

Hey @PluttBug,

Changing the username of an already linked platform account will have no impact on the linked account. You can't force it to change the name, it doesn't work like that sadly. It will most likely update over time, as long as the account hasn't been unlinked.

If you unlink the platform account from your EA account, change the username in the meantime and want to link it again, it is very well possible that the system sees this as a completely new platform account of the same platform, which could mean the following;
"You can unlink your platform accounts from your EA Account if you want to link them to a different EA Account, as long as that EA Account has never had the same account type linked to it before in its lifetime.

That means if you unlink an Xbox gamertag from your EA Account, you can’t link a different Xbox gamertag to it in the future."

This can be found on our website: https://help.ea.com/en/help/account/unlink-gaming-accounts-from-ea-account/.

Hence, why you're now unable to relink it again.

11 Replies

  • That was not the case whatsoever.  I changed my in game name from ManlyKibbles56 to Tenfootgiant, when I went to install the game in game pass it told me I had to link my account.  When I signed into my only EA account it told me that I can't link it because my account was linked to ManlyKibbles56.  That's the reason I unlinked it, because the website stated I can't relink a different tag.  Now when I go to relink my same account it says I can't because it was linked to a different one.

    It thinks Tenfootgiant is a different Xbox account.  I changed it while it was still linked because I unlinked it trying to fix it.

  • No, I have one account only from the Xbox app on PC.  When I went to install dead space it asked me to sign in with my EA account and when I did, it said I couldn't sign in because it was already linked while showing me the username from my same account from 2 days ago.

    Worst part is, I'd just change it back but Microsoft put a 12 character cap and the one I used before was more than 12.

  • EA_Leeuw's avatar
    EA_Leeuw
    Icon for Community Manager rankCommunity Manager
    3 years ago
    @PluttBug, hmm, that indeed sounds like a series of very unfortunate events. So now Microsoft has also changed their policy of Gamertags?
  • I am having the same issue - spend days with your support people and Xbox’s - even conferenced them together until they EA hung up - I changed my Xbox gamer tag from sticky66 to LundyPanda - now I cannot play any EA games - I would love to link on I link my account but cannot - tried building a new EA profile no luck - please help

  • EA_Leeuw's avatar
    EA_Leeuw
    Icon for Community Manager rankCommunity Manager
    3 years ago
    Hey @897349ef0b70bba5,

    As mentioned before, as long as the account was already linked, changing the Gamertag name over on the Xbox side shouldn't interfere with being able to use EA Play via the EA app on PC.
    However, if you unlinked the accounts, and changed the Xbox Gamertag in the meantime, that could maybe potentially cause issues.
  • This same thing is happening to me. I last linked accounts when I had a 360. Recently got a series x but in between I changed my username. Now I too am being told I need to link accounts but when I try I am told that it's linked to my old username. So yes sir, it "is" happening. Please help us.

  • if i'm being honest they should revise the policy, atleast until they can figure out what the problem is and fix it, otherwise this could snowball and EA already isn't very liked among the gaming community and when people start losing hundreds, and even thousands of dollars because of a updated username they definitely won't be liked at all please just either fix the issue or allow us to switch our linked accounts

  • 'Shouldn't happen' does not help when it does happen.

    I am permanently locked out of using EA with my game pass and there's nothing I can do about it simply because something happened that ' shouldn't happen.'

    Yes I did unlink it but the way the integration works clearly doesn't use much else other than the user ID name and although I made the ID name change while linked up already, your system had no recognition of that and I have to pay the consequences for it and all I'm told is that it 'shouldn't happen.'

    I've written it off and essentially don't really use EA and although all the negative feedback and hatred that's put towards many large publishers, this is a beautiful example of a situation that could probably be investigated and resolved, but I'm only being told it shouldn't happen and essentially left with the consequences.

    So for anybody else asking if there's nothing else to be done, unless you find someone within EA with the ability to actually change something on the back end to resolve the issue, you will not find any help.  This happened over a year or so ago and I can do absolutely nothing with this account in regards to connecting it to GamePass even though both accounts were always the same.  All it took was changing the user ID on the Xbox game pass account.

    It really wouldn't take much for somebody to test this out and confirm and probably take the appropriate measures to ensure that a simple name change doesn't cause this. However, I'm beyond all this at this point and I really don't care anymore, I just know not to purchase anything related to this publisher and to avoid using their software.

    I would have never unlinked the account had I known I couldn't relink it because of this simple disassociation however, I only unlinked it because it couldn't account for that association in the first place.  I'm only writing this because I still get notifications on occasion of people that are responding to the same thread and it comes to my email, just want anybody else that might be frustrated and having difficulties resolving this to understand that you're likely not going to get the help you need and that it may not be worth pursuing just for the sake of your own stress because at the time it frustrated me a lot.

  • Matosxp's avatar
    Matosxp
    4 months ago

    the reason they wont update the policy because  the customer support is unknown. every other company associates and links accounts through email but ea decided to use gamertags?!!? my gamer tagged is now being someone in another country specifically Italy.

    How do i know this? because my gamertag that is goes back to a @hotmail.it. so essentially i am paying for ultimate pass through xbox which includes EA play. so that person who is using my gamertag is getting to use use ea play for free. ea support got very hostile kind of insulting.

     mind you i can see my ea account just cant make changes because it goes back to this @hotmail.it email.

    Mind you i am in complete control of both xbox account and ea account the link is just false.

  • @Matosxpi also think their is some type of scam going on personally. i did not know i had ea play premium until recently. im currently typing up a letter to my attorney general in NY @ https://ag.ny.gov/resources/individuals/consumer-issues

    I would look into the same for your state consumer affairs attorney general. scam seems to be access to ea play THAT you are paying for but someone else is using.

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