What is the real failure rate of the Xbox 360?

[_skitzo_]

Tim Anderson
Thursday May 31, 2007
The Guardian

We asked Game, one of the largest console retailers in the UK. "That's not information we're able to give out. It's commercially sensitive," it said. As for Microsoft, in the early days after the console's 2005 launch it claimed that failure rates were no higher than an industry average of between 3% and 5%. That now seems wildly optimistic.

Last month, its vice-president of entertainment, Peter Moore, refused to answer the question, telling the Mercury News: "I can't comment on failure rates." According to Moore, if someone has a faulty console they should worry about the customer service.

Article continues
Anecdotal evidence about how many have suffered the "red ring of death", where the power button sticks on red, not green, is hard to assess because it is those with faulty boxes who make most noise, but Microsoft seems to have a problem. A notable feature of surveys such as one conducted recently by the magazine 360 Gamer is that multiple failures are common, with some users on their sixth or seventh console.

Third-party repair specialists also cast doubt on the 360's reliability. Simon Donn at Undercutter UK in London Colney, Hertfordshire, says: "There's a particular problem in relation to overheating. Quite often it's to do with the soldering on the board, and the fact that the fans, which are already very loud, can't seem to extract enough air. "

In a statement, Microsoft said "there is not a single root cause or systemic issue with any of the Xbox 360 consoles ... there are obviously many things that can malfunction at any given time."

Initial quality problems are unsurprising with a games console rushed to market, but 18 months later shouldn't such issues be resolved? Nobody we spoke to seems confident.

Another problem relates to the 360's Digital Rights Management. When you buy downloadable content, such as a game from the Xbox Live Arcade, it comes with a usage restriction. It is fully unlocked for the console to which it is downloaded, even for offline use or for users with separate profiles. But if the machine breaks and you replace it, the game is only unlocked when the original buyer is logged into Xbox Live. That may seem a subtle distinction, but it enrages users who discover that their warranty replacement does not restore full rights to what they have paid for.

"It is this single issue, and the way that Microsoft has handled it, that has convinced me that this will be the last MS console I will own," says one disillusioned user on Microsoft's official community forums, in a thread with more than 2,000 posts. The solution is to find a third-party repairer who will return your actual machine, rather than a new or refurbished model - but that means spending money, which seems unreasonable during the warranty period.

http://technology.guardian.co.uk/wee...091221,00.html