Xbox 360 failure rate 54 percent?

Red Ring of death
The Xbox 360 is known for a large game library, but it’s also known for being prone to massive failure. The term RRoD, or Red Ring of Death, is often used to describe the dreaded three red blinking lights that is shown when the 360 becomes completely inoperable. This issue has become so drastic that Microsoft has actually added a specific warranty just for this error that lasts two years longer than the standard warranty.

Well Game Informer has conducted a survey of over 5000 of it’s readers on console failure. The Wii boasted a 6 percent failure rate, the PS3 had a 10 percent failure rate, and the 360 had a massive 54 percent failure rate. Over half of the Xbox 360 have had console failure? REALLY? No wonder Microsoft has reported losing over a billion because of this.

I gets even worse. Further failure after that initial, repair doesn’t fall too far from the original number. The both the PS3 and Wii gain a small percentage jump, with the Wii at being 11 and the PS3 at 14. The Xbox 360, surprisingly, drops but not by much to 41 percent.

The customer service for both the PS3 and Wii remain around 50 percent as helpful, with the 360 being 37 percent. Ouch. The response for friends who have console failure for the PS3 and Wii are more or less the same as the original number, with the 360 being 69 percentage.

Now there’s obviously some skewering here. These are all numbers from gamers, people who play their consoles a lot, so it’s not quite an accurate number. The amount of people out there who have these consoles and have failure is probably a lot lower.

Part of the reason why these numbers present themselves is due to the amount of play. 41 percent of the Wii users say they play that console less than one hour a day. Around 40 percent of the 360 and PS3 users say they play those consoles on average three to five hours a day. This suggests that, of the three, the PS3 is probably the most reliable. Higher usage than the Wii and lower failure rate than the 360 indicates more to me than the original numbers that brought this article to our attention front.

Interestingly enough, the number of users who said they would not buy a Xbox after having console failure is only around 3 percent. I’d attribute this to the massive library that I mentioned before hand. That’s probably the 360’s strongest base is their library of great games.

In response to this article Microsoft released the following statement to IGN:

Microsoft stands behind the Xbox 360 as a superior entertainment console with one of the best warranties in the industry. We are constantly improving the design, manufacture and performance of the console through extensive testing of potential sources of any problems. Xbox 360 is pleased to maintain the title of “most played console” and the vast majority of Xbox 360 customers have enjoyed a terrific gaming and entertainment experience since their first day, and continue to, day in and day out.

Can’t say I find anything wrong with this statement. Microsoft HAS indeed shown time and time again that, while their console might be prone to failure, they do give it major support with a very nice warranty.

I say this having my 360 Red Ringed for the third time YESTERDAY. Yes, I am currently waiting for an Xbox 360 coffin to come and take my console off to go get repaired and a freshly rented copy of Wolfenstein from Gamefly sitting on my desk.

Despite this being the fourth time I will have to send it to repair(the original repair was due to repeated console freezing that didn’t result in a red-ring) I still wouldn’t fall under the category of being a player who would not buy another Xbox because of it. That’s not to say I wouldn’t like to see some major engineering issues fixed with the 360, but I’m not ready to give up on it.

IGN: Report: Xbox 360 Failure Rate Reaches 54% [Source Article]

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