Reliability issues undermine Xbox 360 attack on Wii
By Jonathan Schlaffer
Microsoft would like everyone to believe that its console is perfect, that there are no problems with it at all and that it conforms to the industry standard failure rate of between 3% to 5%. However, there’s mounting evidence that actual failure rates are much higher than that, and Nintendo loves every minute of it.
No one has heard of massive Wii failures and no one has heard of massive PS3 failures but almost everyone is becoming aware of Microsoft’s problems with the XBOX 360.
An employee of EB Games claims that 1 in 4 XBOX 360’s sold at their stores is going to fail. In fact, EB is so sure that the XBOX 360 will break down that it has now increased the price of the extended warranty.
That was just at one store. Across all EB and Gamestop stores, failure rates for the XBOX 360 are closer to 33%.
Some contractors that Microsoft has hired to fix ailing XBOX 360 consoles have decided not do so any more because this results in losses for the various companies.
Microsoft continues to insist that the XBOX 360 is within “industry norms” but refuses to release any internal figures to the public eye. With the release of this story at PC World, Microsoft did not comment nor did it respond to email requests.
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July 3rd, 2007
This will have MASSIVE effect on 360 in the long if they don’t address this soon. Cause now this problem is getting MAINSTEARM! ;(
July 3rd, 2007
i got three frends whos xbox got broken .i am lucky my is not broken yet.
July 4th, 2007
Really, Microsoft will have to deal with it sooner or later. The more they put it off, the more serious it becomes. Then again, what would they really do? Their words won’t be enough to comfort some of those with declining Xbox 360 consoles. They need to do something about it.
July 4th, 2007
As a district manager for Gamestop, we have figured that that over 90% of our customers who bought a 360 in its first year are on there second or more Xbox 360. This is due to massive failures. Its hard to account for every one sold. It will take a lawsuit for Microsoft to be held accountable. They just treat there customers terrible. In some cases this has been to Microsoft advantage as probably half of all 360’s sold are just to replace a broken one. I guess its one way to increase sales.
July 4th, 2007
if your xbox 360 breaks call microsoft they will send you a box and postage you mail it out and get it back 2 weeks later either brand new or your xbox repaired. dou you think sony or nintendo would ever do this ? the answer is no. microsoft is known throughout the world for having first class customer service. 1+1=2 you figure it out. ps. you dont pay a dime
July 4th, 2007
Probably the number 1 complaint is poor Microsoft service. Slow, rude, expensive and people NOT getting the original units back??The fact that REPAIR COMPANIES are refusing 360’s is proof of this…Nintendo and Sony replace defective units promptly at least as far as Gamestop is concerned. Under warrentee Nintendo and Sony replace for free, the good thing is most people who buy Sony and Nintendo don’t have to worry about the replacement hassle. Just Call MS and see for yourself????
July 4th, 2007
True, Nintendo sent me a new Wii within three weeks and even transfered my pre-exesting memory to my new system, they sent it first class and gave it to me one December 23, 2006!!!!!!
July 4th, 2007
At first i thought that those people with faulty XBOX 360s were just careless until mine gave me the now famous Ring of Death. I was shocked considering the fact that i had always taken care of my console and did all that the manual had told me to do. I guess the only good thing about this is that all you have to do is phone microsoft and they’ll either fix your console or give you a new one. Their customer service is great.
July 4th, 2007
@nonstopdeath:
How wrong u are. My wii had some difficulties and so I called up nintendo and they gave me the choice of getting a new wii or sending mine in and getting it repaired. I chose to get a new one and I didn’t have to send my wii in. They sent me one in the mail and I had a week or two to return my old one. I don’t have to pay for anything and I didn’t have to wait two weeks either. 1+1=2 you figure it out.
July 5th, 2007
I cant believe this story did not break sooner. My brother works in a Gaming store and he’s known about the high failure rate of the 360 since its launch. And one has to wander now how much of the 12 million units sold so far are replacements (cough’ 33%). It want take long for ps3 to catch up now, Wii even less. I must say you can always rely on Nintendo when it comes to hardware- S/Famican, N64, GC- all solid as a rock!!!
I bet Sony & Nintendo are having a right laugh at the MS noobs.
July 5th, 2007
@nonstopdeath
I agree with Joe, my ps3 craped out because the wiring in my house twice before we figured it out and i got my ps3 replaced both times for free. It only took about a week and a half and I live in Canada. Your acting like exchanges for any broken electronics cost anything. Also the only reason Microsoft’s customer service is “known around the world” is because every owner has had to call them.
July 6th, 2007
this basically goes down to japanese vs american really. how many broken down honda’s hav u seen compared to fords?? 2 of the biggest names in the automobile industry, yet fords break down all the time. americans make shoddy products a large amount of the time, it has to be said (no offence meant to any americans reading this) and japanese take more care and are more precise. i’ve got a nes thts in perfect condition, had it since launch, and a ps1+2 both in perfect condition from launch aswell, but whenever i get a microsoft product (namely windows) all hell breaks loose and sumthing breaks soon enough. M$ are rubbish at creating nething, and think because they have money and the highest installed base of pc users they can bully people, but thts gonna stop when people realise there alternatives (i.e. linux on the pc, or sony/nintendos incredible products and customer service)
July 17th, 2007
I own a Sony PS2 which has been trouble free since purchase, 6 months ago.
I would like to go Hi Def with games, but in view of comments like the above I would not want to risk buying an Xbox 360.
Neither would I buy a PS3, as I think they are very expensive. Much cheaper in USA. Why won’t they reduce the price?
I would consider buying a PS 3 if they brought out a basic machine without the DVD facility. I have a DVD player for that.
July 27th, 2007
Paul: neither Ford or XBox is made in America. Hondas, however, are made here.