Posted by Emily Halpin on Twitch
We know how important it is to have the username you want. It’s your calling card, your online persona, your identity. It’s you.
Tens of thousands of new Twitch accounts have been created every day for a long time. Some of these accounts belong to people who used Twitch many years ago. But what about all those great usernames?! Why should a dormant account have that username you want so badly? We asked ourselves that same question.
Today Twitch is announcing a major change to our username reuse and recycling policy — specifically that we are beginning to reclaim inactive usernames in order to make them available again sometime in the future.
Beginning January 29th, Twitch will begin to reclaim inactive accounts (including the usernames) and make them available to others. With any reclaimed account, Twitch will delete the profile information associated with the account (including, any content). This also means that any personal data and private content associated with these accounts will be deleted and will not be accessible to the new account holders.
An inactive account is defined as an account that has had no login, viewing, or broadcasting activity for at least twelve months. For more details on the policy change, please check out our help section.
Have questions? Read below for some answers that might help you out:
I have an old account — please don’t delete it! How do I stop this?
All you need to do is log into it! As soon as you log into your account, it’s automatically refreshed and removed from the list of accounts prepared for deletion. Keep in mind for this initial reclamation process, you must log in before January 29th, 2017.
If my account is reclaimed by Twitch, will the new username owner have access to my information?
No. The new owner of the username will never have access to any of your data, including credit card information, settings, or viewing history.
When will the inactive usernames become available?
Inactive usernames will be recycled periodically and made available for new users in batches. Legacy justin.tv usernames will eventually be recycled as part of this process. There is no claim process for current Twitch users.
If I wanted a particular username that has been inactive, what is the best way to get it?
We do not accept vanity name change requests or requests to claim specific names at this time.
Will there be an announcement or list of new names when a username batch becomes available?
No.
I’m a Partner. Will I be impacted by this?
No. Partnered accounts will never be reclaimed.
