1 Like i'm not here to argue about which is the better console, but if i were to buy a 360, i'd think twice, and then i'd save my money
Xbox 360 failure rate 23.7%, PS3 10%, Wii 2.7% - Study
Microsoft's console historically less reliable, concludes 16,000-console survey by warranty firm SquareTrade; first-year 360 failure rates now under 4%.
Hot on the heels of a controversial Game Informer survey comes a new study that also pegs the Xbox 360 as the least reliable console on the market. Electronics-warranty company SquareTrade has issued a survey of 16,000 game consoles it serviced from the second quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2009. The report analyzed approximately 2,500 PlayStation 3s, 2,500 Xbox 360s and 11,000 Wiis selected at random. (The company found Wii owners much more likely to buy warranties.) All consoles had been purchased new and had not been damaged by their owners.
As with the Game Informer study, SquareTrade found that the Xbox 360's failure rate was far higher than its rivals. Some 23.7 percent of those surveyed failed within two years of purchase: 12 percent from the infamous "Red Ring of Death" and 11.7 percent from other problems, including the "E74" error. Both problems are covered by the 360's three-year manufacturer's warranty, which the company began offering in 2007 for a cost of over $1 billion.
By contrast, the study found 10 percent of PlayStation 3s surveyed failed within two years of purchase, as did 2.7 percent of Wiis. However, SquareTrade pointed out an April survey by media-research firm Nielsen that concluded the Wii is the least played of the three major consoles, being used for only 516 minutes per month. By contrast, the Xbox 360 is played over twice as much (1,191 minutes per month), with the PS3 lagging slightly behind it (1,053 minutes per month).
Also to its credit, SquareTrade released a timeline for Xbox 360s that failed in their first year. Up until 2007, the 360 "Xenon" and "Zephyr" models were equipped with a 90nm-process CPU and GPU that generated considerable heat--a likely culprit in the still officially unexplained Red Ring of Death failures. Their replacement, called "Falcon," was released in the fourth quarter of 2007 with a cooler 65nm-process CPU and a 90nm GPU, several months after the launch of the Xbox 360 Elite.
However, the Falcon introduction had an adverse immediate effect, with the first two quarters of 2008 seeing first-year 360 failures spike to 10 percent. However, the study points out that a sell-off of older consoles in the fourth quarter of 2007, which then met their maker the following year, could also be a factor.
Fortunately, SquareTrade found that Xbox 360 quality has improved dramatically since the third quarter of 2008, shortly before the 65nm CPU/GPU "Jasper" model was introduced. Since then, first-year failure rates have plummeted to below the 4 percent the company projected. Looking at 500 units purchased in 2009, SquareTrade found that less than 1 percent had suffered the Red Ring of Death.
SquareTrade's analysis of recently purchased 360s appears to back up statements made by Xbox 360 and Xbox Live director of product management Aaron Greenberg. In an interview with GameSpot just before the Xbox 360 Elite $299 price drop, the executive said that Microsoft has made great improvements in the console's quality control.
"I think we've made it clear we stand by the quality of our product, and we will make it right by fixing the problem at no extra cost to you," declared Greenberg. "But at the same time, we've been working hard to make improvements in the products we're currently making, so I really feel like most of this is well behind us."
1416 comments
1 Like 
Goddamn microsoft decided to take a couple of critical months off my 3 year warranty. I purchased my 360 on April 3rd 2007, yet My three year is up... Does the logic behind MS' math compute with anyone?
whether you are die-hard-fans of xbox360 or ps3, we are still gamers, why bother arguing something pointless and hate each other?
yes its true the xbox 360 has lowered the % of the failure from 2008-2009 but allot of consoles where sold before 2009-2008
Dear ratix2 I love ya callimg me a fan boy and insulting me. Shows real class here. If you do som e research on the web you will find MS was in court over this failure rate. A class action suit. The judge told them to fix it or recall all systems. Since MS did what was asked it didnt go to far. Yet no research was done this by you. http://www.newvideogameconsoles.com/xbox360recall.html Heres some proof the recal almost happened. MS Lawyers got them out of it with the 3 year warrenty. This sight explains not to worry bout the recall due to this new warrenty. The info is on the web. There was almost a 100% recall. MS did what they can for it not to happen. You say im a Sony fanboy and try to insult me. Im stating facts. you say Sony was sued. for PS2. Yes this true and the issue was fixxed. Where rrods still happen today. May be a bit lesss but it still happens. And it will till. MS Gets all the old bad hard ware off the streets.
Happy Hollidays. i like when some one posts im an idiot on how b ad the failure rate is on the 360 and how such a fan boy i am lol. I own both systems yet PS3 hasnt failed but the other 5 times? Hmmmm? Am I an idiot or is it obvious here what the problem is here? 1 ystem hasnt failed the other has numerious times. Call me fan boy call me what ever. LOL Im going off what happens to me. PS3 works great, 360 RROD. Ill stil ltake the ps3 for games due to relibility. I trust it will work for me
Excellent, so I guess now the new 360s have a lower failure rate than PS3. Good job MS, at least you stepped up and took responsibility, something Sony never did with the PS2.
Good question why are you guys having a flaming? Did this show up on the PS3 page. If not .... what the hell is wrong with you? Go play a game I am going over my buddies house to play Killzone this weekend. I've never been a real fan of it but it's an ok game. Move along children nothing to see here may your flame burn with someone who cares?
White0lion Posted Sep 10, 2009 4:02 am GMT Going more into fan boy comments. about 7 dolars a month. I understand you got to make money to keep content good but to play online should be free. I understand movies DLC music and whatnot. But to just play a game on live cots money. It shoudnt. You could play online pc free, PS2 free, PS3 free, WII what games they got free, DS free. This 7 dollar comment bout people being poor is plain bull. And its a fanboy comment for something they know the other person is right or an excuse to boast there favorite system. I let my Live expire. Why on all my other systems and I have them all including pc and WII I can play for free. I dont see why to play games online you got to pay. For pc its been free for years. forgot to mention that lagbox live also lags alot more than ps3 and pc with most major games been peer to peer host advantage fests
Going more into fan boy comments. about 7 dolars a month. I understand you got to make money to keep content good but to play online should be free. I understand movies DLC music and whatnot. But to just play a game on live cots money. It shoudnt. You could play online pc free, PS2 free, PS3 free, WII what games they got free, DS free. This 7 dollar comment bout people being poor is plain bull. And its a fanboy comment for something they know the other person is right or an excuse to boast there favorite system. I let my Live expire. Why on all my other systems and I have them all including pc and WII I can play for free. I dont see why to play games online you got to pay. For pc its been free for years.
Heres the thing on failure rates. The 360 has had failrly to many. MS Had said it again and again with the newer chips that it was fixxed. The Elite was sopose to be good and it was't. Now the Jasper chips is sopose to bethe big fix. It should of never gotten out of hand in the first place. People say all different numbers. I think the 360 failure rates 70 to 80% After seeing 6 of my friends units die and 4 of another friend die aswell all RROD. The second problem is all the fan boys bringing up the PS2 Disk read problem. In fact yes it was a problem but nothing to the point of RROD. So far RROD has been the biggest failure rate of electronic device at the moment. And tthe PS2 Disk read issues is all thay can say. Thats being a fan boy. Open your eyes and do the research. The RROD is the biggest faulure rate in electronics. Do the fan boys konw why MS did a 3 year repair option. I would say most dont. MS didnt do it out of the kindness for the customer. The Court of law said either come up with something or recall 100% of the systems. So to keep the recall at bay. They came up with the 3 year RROD warrenty.
@ Yuck_Too: alright wise guy, you think a few recalls a year means the food, auto, or appliance industries have higher failure rates? Consider how many of those are optional recalls, and even more importantly, consider how many more units are shipped in each and every one of those industries. As a true failure percentage, each of those is less than 1% BY DESIGN. Ever heard of 6 sigma? They all use it.
My super Xbox 360 Jasper model is dead. Used it for 6 months and only 5-7 hrs a week. Sooo beter now huh?
My super Xbox 360 Jasper model is dead. Used it for 6 months and only 5-7 hrs a week. Sooo beter now huh?
We used to collect launch console for our collection, but MS ruins it for the xbox360. Guess 10 years from now the Xbox360 launch console will be the most worthless in gaming history. I dont kknow about u guys, but i do know next time im getting a console from MS, ill wait for the 2nd version at least. (I bought X360 only after Jasper comes out). No one can beat the Japs in terms of quality control. They are more experience, more responsible for their gamer after all.
@kavadias1981 your totally right the "war" should be between MS and sony (and we get the goods) but still no one did aswear my damn question! why do xbox fanboys hate Ps3???
Why people argue over these things escapes me. Just choose the console that fits your gaming style and personal taste.
The 360 has a lot of online features but in 3 years you end up paying 100 quid for the service. The PS3's service is free but of course it lacks behind the 360 in terms of content. The games of both console are about the same; they have an even amount of all genres and lots of quality titles each. Again it depends of the consumer which console you go for. Are you an online junkie or a single player gamer? Choose which one suits you best.
Every console has its strengths and weaknesses. Yeah, the 360 breaks more but it is cheaper. If you pay less then you have to sacrifice the quality, the same as anything. Sure the PS3 is 50 quid more but it is a more reliable console, the facts speak for themselves. But in the end it depends on the kind of consumer you are. Value or quality?
Fanboy wars have going on since the Nintendo Vs Sega days. It is good to see that people are still stuck in the same frame of mind as they were 20 years ago.
@10679 You're looking at a 2008 -game. Also, please use some f"¤&ing spaces between the quote and your respond, because it's truly an a-- to find what's your response. Rockstar Games themselves said that you could've accessed EVERY HOUSE in GTA4 if it wasn't up to DVD-DL. That was set as an example of "accessing.." MGS4's cutscenes aren't compressed, which is why they require capacity from the disc. Just having disc-capacity doesn't necessarily mean you have to use it, yet MGS4 didn't use the "accessing" -side. As for game length; That's up to the game developer whether to make a short or a long game. You can't however deny that when there's more capacity, there's more room for a game to fit in. Using multiple discs won't really help in that side either, besides it'd cost a lot of money to send in 4 discs in 1 game to millions of fans. Cutting them to save compression doesn't work always, especially in MGS4 as the game is full of videos, and I do believe that not all people would like to switch discs because of videos taking space. Killzone 2's first level requires 2 gigabytes from the disc-space by the way. (Proven.)
I think that your XBOX 360 doesn't fail on you if you treat it well and make sure that you don't ask too much of the TV. And Microsoft even repairs a Red Ring of Death for free!
@10679 . Don't pass your opinion as facts. i own both consoles i can say that the exact opposite. that was your opinion not a fact :) heavenly sword was a bad example, bring infamous and mgs4 (the cutscenes made it longer) "plenty of 360 games that are long and have been using DVDs" in dvd there can be only 2 types of game: short awesome graphics(Gow2) , long with great grapchics i have all respect for you but still you didnt anwser my question, plz read my last 2 comments
@ kamizuka "Only on Ps3 games are great not all, cant say the same about the xbox.you should read my last comment and answer my question not try to mock me" Thats your opinion. Don't pass your opinion as facts. i own both consoles i can say that the exact opposite. "hen in game is on both consoles the developers use the dvd and make a short game, but if the game was only on ps3 the game would be Alot better using blue-ray" i have seen games many short games made on blu ray. Games like heavenly (ps3 exclusive ) was a pretty short game. i can name plenty of 360 games that are long and have been using DVDs. @ TevoxZi "ndeed, but what Disc Size does determine is the ammount of stuff able to insert & access. Less compression means better visual & audio." There is a thing called using more dvds to make a game to solve the problem and there is nothing wrong with changing disc. Just look at mgs4. If you play mgs4 now you can see the game has aged pretty badly. Only nice thing about mgs4 are the cutscenes as it seems that hideo kojima focuses alot on the cutscenes graphics but when you get to control the character the graphics are pretty average especially the environment.
@Darth_Slayer i said small amount of games, haze, lair, ratchet and clarck those games suck, what i meant to say is most of Only on Ps3 games are great not all, cant say the same about the xbox.you should read my last comment and answer my question not try to mock me
@Darth_Slayer Indeed, but what Disc Size does determine is the ammount of stuff able to insert & access. Less compression means better visual & audio. When it's ported these are ignored and the game is just added on the disc (and sometimes some bonus is added, but rarely.) -> the reason this is done is because game developers don't want to make the game too different on the other. As that'd get a lot of "hate" from people that don't own the right console for the duty to get more out of the game. However the games shouldn't stick with the graphics only, I mean; FF7 is still in the top 3 favourite games of mine and it sure isn't that "beautiful" looking these days, but it's story was kickass back then as it's still today. Games are opinionated, people have different tastes of games, which is the reason why it's so. Of course having the capacity in the BluRay doesn't always mean you HAVE to use it all, it just means that there's not a limitation incase you're intending to give it a shot to make a big game.
By your logic, games like Haze and Lair must be good because they're PS3 exclusive. Disc size doesn't not determine whether a game is good or not eg Super Mario Galaxy.
i asked this be4 and i'll ask it again, because last time i didnt get the answer: why do Xbox fans hate the Ps3??? because every Ps3 fan have a good reason. when in game is on both consoles the developers use the dvd and make a short game, but if the game was only on ps3 the game would be Alot better useing blue-ray and i want to have a small number of awesome games than a large number of short lame games
Its you people who what more and more graphics. Had Nintendo gone that route they would have suffer the same fate. But no, they were smart in saying no to ridiculous super graphics. What M$ and $ony should have done: Just say no.
All i know is,I Don't use my PS3 and i've broken two 360's...but luckily Microsoft sent me a new one in like 3 days for free. I'd make out with bill gates,they had my back...and i broke it myself,i tried to prop it with a dang rock. Dont ask why,it fell...bam...crash...bam...they replaced it. And i was 100% at fault. I Would let bill ''hit it''
@fahadsul3man You seriously don't know much, do you? PS3 was hard to get the last 2 weeks and people were waiting for the Slim to come out, wait till the next Big In Japan -article and the sales are higher. Wow, PS3 is a ripoff? Xbox came in the picture later than PS2, even the 360's controller is a ripoff of dreamcast' controller. Don't have RROD ? Look at the title instead of believing in everything what is told to you. Oh, and about grilling; 360 heats more, so it'd do that duty better.
who cares about a % figure, its just a guess... its all about luck really, and 2 factors that someone pointed out, less dust and less heat = good console.. i mean i had a NES for over 8 years, eventually died coz of dust issues. and i still have my old N64 (safely in a box) from what 1997/98 and it still works after hoursss and i mean hours of playing 15-20 different games.. with the cartridge games, dust was a major issue and how well you take care of your games.. i still see many friends wonder why there games are scratched to hell and the game doesnt work, its called taking care of your games!!
@ TevoxZi totally agree with ya about time is changed and continues to change ....... it's time for sony to finish off ps3 and produce more profitable gaming console . By the way ps2 is selling more then ps3 wicked isnt it ?imagine 600 $ gaming console which has world's powerful processor and can't even process half the games as good as ps2 and end's up ......... wanna know which games i have resistance 1 and 2,ratchet and clank ,uncharted ,cod 4,re 5,GRAW2,ac,gta 4,fnr4,orange box, sf4, y did i invest in that stupid suasage grilling rip off ?? Glad i bought xbox 360 cuz newer 360s dont have any more rrod
buying a second Ps2 is as stupid as buying a second xbox, because you can fix that problem, the PS3 was only a blue-ray player in the day of the lunch because it only had few lame games, but all that changed now, but the Xbox didnt, Xbox only have Halo3(best muiltiplayer FPS game)and gears of was2( only finish it ones then throw it away) other than than that the games are all the same the graphics are all the same but the Ps3 puts some blur,but guss what IT MAKES IT BETTER xbox have more colors? Hell NO!! you can change it from the freaking TV!
@fahadsul3man Wow, still not telling WHAT games you bought. I really doubt you owned one as if you did you would've been more patient, seeing that you call yourself the "biggest fan". Do you even know what went wrong with Fallout 3 and Orange Box? -> That they were ported from 360 to PS3, instead of making them properly. Don't talk about the price either, PS3 120gb Slim is to be at $299 Price Tag where the Xbox 360 120gb Elite is coming down to as well. They'll BOTH cost 299 then, except PS3 also has BluRay & Wi-Fi included, bigger specs & bigger lineup of exclusive games for this and next year. You're really living in 2007 or something. It's 2009 now, things have changed and will continue changing in the future. --- @kamizuka I agree with you.
@fahadsul3man Games are opinionated, but I do personally like PS3's exclusives more and if there's ever exclusives that I want from 360, I can simply buy them on PC. Over 90% of games are multiplatform games though, so there's not a huge difference in that side either. Specwise PS3 is the best choice if the consoles are standing in the same price, proven. You can have your opinion about a console as you wish, but it won't make it crappy for others even if you're a dead-hard fanboy that registered on GameSpot today just to make a comment like that. They're both great consoles, both have pros and cons. Get over it. If buying a console makes me dumbsh%& then the world has gone wrong, isn't it your own thing what you're going to use your money on? Don't try to tell people what to buy as it's clearly their money they're going to use to buy the console with. You could've at least named some of the exclusives you actually before coming up with a comment like yours. Deep inside of me something tells me that you haven't even touched a PS3, but you're just mocking it, because you don't own it. Love the fanboys.
@AirBizkit89 Uhm, could be perhaps some of the cellphone headsets? A lot of headsets work with the PS3, from bad to good. As for Wi-Fi adapter; I've never seen it being 7 dollars anywhere, it's at least 70 where I've seen it at shops. Linking a site up with that price would make it more believable. P.S. And why are we talking about headsets in an error-rate article, just asking. [quote="AirBizkit89"] This is some good news. as for ps3 slim i never got that. i thought slim meant slim just cuz you dropped 30% of a 1000 punds dont mean nuthin. thanks sony for making ppl also buy wirless routers too. those are like 60 bucks sony does this all the time. they beat around the bush n sony sugarcoats everything. i can't stand that crap. theres a sucker born every minute of sony's quick cash schemes. at least xbox doesnt act all shaddy. [/quote] How did Sony "make" people buy Wireless Routers? It's not like You HAVE to use Wi-Fi, there's also an Ethernet port in the back. Having a Wi-Fi is never worse than not having it, especially since MS is making people an internet essential now that they're planning on putting games virtual once DVD-DL gets completely obsolete and no one makes games on it anymore, not all people have Ethernet-ports left in the AP or the AP just simply is too far away for a cable to put between into. A Router with Antenna for WLAN $60? You're seriously wrong in the prices. -_- So you're saying Sony is sucking money from it's consumers? Take a look at Microsoft, they don't even come with Wi-Fi included and they charge for online which is even free on PC and the rest of the 2 consoles without being much better service. Infact all the games on 360 run on P2P instead of Dedicated, the only plus is that everyone have headsets & partychat and as PartyChat is a program, it can easily be added in updates. Headsets aren't always a good thing either, as that surely adds more communication, it also adds more kids to piss you off online.
i have read so many comments about the wireless adapter for the 360 if 100 bucks is too much for u just buy form ebay is $50 that is why EBAY exist!!
Im not finished with jeeperswim lol.... I CANT IMAGINE YOU BEING TICKED OFF AT 7 BUCKS. Imagine the dates this guy must go on hahahaha .... do even pay for your girlfriends meal ... wow
dont wine to everyone else how you cant get 7 bucks when you clearly live in america. a place where 7 bucks is considerd shi@ cash. 7 dollars got that sheap skate
I have a launch 360. I had to send it in to MS to get the tray fixed because it started jamming, and I had the red rings at one one point when I first got it, but then it started back up. I have put MONTHS worth of time into this system, not to mention all the time that it's just been on not doing anything. I'm really, really lucky.
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