Microsoft is currently investigating a serious design flaw within their Xbox Live system. The issue is forcing a small percentage of Xbox Live users to create new accounts because their gamertag has been deleted along with achievements and anything else that they may have accumulated over the past three years.

The issue in question comes from a strange bug that causes a gamertag to be deleted after an email address tied to your Windows Live account expires. Email providers such as Hotmail and Yahoo! have expiry dates for email addresses after a certain period of inactivity has passed.

Microsoft currently has no solution, and customer service representatives can only recommend starting fresh with a new gamertag. As of right now none of the data(such as achievements) can be transferred to a new account despite the fact that the affected users have an up-to-date Xbox Live Profile sitting on their hard drives.

Microsoft has issued the following response:

"We are investigating this issue and don't have any further comment to make right now. Any consumer with any issues regarding their Xbox 360 or Xbox Live account should visit xbox.com/support or call their country's customer support number."

So if your email tied to your Windows Live account hasn't been used lately, you might wanna check up on it every now and then to avoid losing your Xbox Live Gamertag.