Changing Xbox Profile Region

Mandarb

Mandarb

New member
Howzit. Never really posted, but if I'm going to get an answer I thought this would be the best place to ask.

My Microsoft account region has been in the US basically since the day I created it. I somehow got it to work and I've been fairly happily been using it like that since. Big MS fan, I'm one of the few guys in SA that had a (2nd gen) Zune, until the hard drive failed, and I've had the music subscription since I got it without fail.

This has started to give problems. I sometimes had to use VPN to get the Xbox live gold free games, but other than that there hasn't been problems. Recently however, I can't buy games from the store. I have my paypal account linked to it, and they are quite happy to charge that for OneDrive and Groove subscription, but not games. I've got a prepaid credit card through US Unlocked but that also fails.

All of which is in explanation to my question. What will I lose if I change my Xbox profile region to SA? I'm assuming that the free games will still keep coming, but I don't know what else will happen. Has anyone done this recently?
 
I myself have never changed the region of my Xbox Live account, but I would assume that the only things you would lose would be service access that isn't available in SA, but you are paying for on your USA account. It will all be down to what is regionally locked. As far as I know, about 95% of all games are available here as they are in USA, so games shouldn't be a problem. What would be an issue is the music, movie or other services you are paying for. Groove as far as I know, is not available in SA, but OneDrive is. Xbox Music and Movies is not available, but Plex is. Most of the apps on the Xbox store is not available as well. So I guess those are the only consequences of changing region
 
I haven't tried recently but I was using an XBOX 360 with an American profile and once MS opened the proper ZA xbox locale I tried in vein with MS support back and forth for quite sometime to get my profile switched. Eventually I just had to give up and lose my gamer profile and points and start fresh on the ZA side.

They are quite ridiculous as they weren't willing to help and don't understand that those gamer points and gameplay history is important to someone who has a console for gaming... I'm sure it isn't a rocket science to get the SQL user profiles records from the US servers and import to the SA servers - if that's even necessary - even if there is some manual work involved. I was even willing to pay to have it done...

I hope you have more luck than I had.
 
SloshLeadFoot83 said:
I haven't tried recently but I was using an XBOX 360 with an American profile and once MS opened the proper ZA xbox locale I tried in vein with MS support back and forth for quite sometime to get my profile switched. Eventually I just had to give up and lose my gamer profile and points and start fresh on the ZA side.

They are quite ridiculous as they weren't willing to help and don't understand that those gamer points and gameplay history is important to someone who has a console for gaming... I'm sure it isn't a rocket science to get the SQL user profiles records from the US servers and import to the SA servers - if that's even necessary - even if there is some manual work involved. I was even willing to pay to have it done...

I hope you have more luck than I had.
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Why did you have to go through all that? You can easily change your region:
https://support.xbox.com/en-ZA/billing/payment-and-purchases/change-xbox-live-country-region
 
I went through the official channels back in the day through the websites to change region but it kept failing and giving errors, that's why I went back and forth with MS support. But as I said that was just when they opened up the ZA xbox locale so maybe they have sorted it out and it's a simple process now.
 
SloshLeadFoot83 said:
I went through the official channels back in the day through the websites to change region but it kept failing and giving errors, that's why I went back and forth with MS support. But as I said that was just when they opened up the ZA xbox locale so maybe they have sorted it out and it's a simple process now.
Click to expand...

That sucks that you had to go through all that. :(
 
Mandarb said:
All of which is in explanation to my question. What will I lose if I change my Xbox profile region to SA? I'm assuming that the free games will still keep coming, but I don't know what else will happen. Has anyone done this recently?
Click to expand...
Changed mine from US to ZA in Nov/Dec last year when I got my XB1. Was on US account for about 2 years before that. Process was quick and easy.

As for what you'll lose - depends heavily on what you have purchased with your account. Anything region specific, or not licensed for distribution in SA like movies or music, and access to region specific content - a Netflix account for a US user has significantly more content available than for SA users for example. Games I'd imagine follow the same rules - if it's not licensed for sale or distribution here, you'll probably have issues, otherwise I reckon you should be okay.

In addition to the link that Solitude posted, check through the notes on this one as well: https://support.xbox.com/en-ZA/my-account/manage-account/change-region
 
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