Game Console Failure Rates

Aug. 28, 2009 -- SquareTrade analyzed failure rates for over 16,000 new game consoles covered by SquareTrade Care Plans and found that the Wii experienced one-fourth of the common failures that the other systems have.

[Ron_Burgundy]

flopbox RRoD is a common occurrence

[Muthafodder]

Ditto on the FlopBox...pure RROD

[Chubear]

.. no seriously. After 68% failure rate in the first 18months on the market, MS view this as a win for sure.

[user3915800]

If you look at the data only 23.7% were faulty and half of it were due to RROD and it was covered with the warranty and therefore it should of been noted that the failure rates are about 11.6%, same as PS3. However, this are old data from the first 2 years of the gaming console and if you look at the consoles since the Jasper released from MS, then MS its the most reliable console of all three with less than 1% reported issues (fact). By the way 360 its not made in the USA dumb droids its made in China, but MS paid for the hardware distribution. There is no such thing as US made car in the USA for about 12 years now, and they all use spare parts and components made from another country, but assemble in the USA (fact). Now that you know wHat GOd HAS STATED, GO SUCK ON A device that stretches.

[nightelfmohawk]

"Second, Microsoft’s policy may result in an underreporting of failures by Xbox 360 owners to SquareTrade, relative to the other two consoles. Because the RROD problem is so widely known to be covered by Microsoft’s warranty, we believe that more customers bypass SquareTrade and reported failures directly to the Microsoft. In a survey of SquareTrade customers with Xbox 360s conducted by email, SquareTrade found that over half of our customers who experienced a RROD error reported their problem directly to Microsoft without contacting SquareTrade. Email survey respondents tend to be a self-selecting group, so the data should be used directionally rather than definitively, particularly because we did not survey PS3 and Wii owners with the same question. With that caveat in mind, applying the survey data to the analysis shows that the Xbox 360 failure rate could be as high as 35%."

[xaviertooth]

the world knows about 54.2%

xbox 360 it only does RROD!

[xaviertooth]

???: *knock-knock!
ps3: who's there?
???: 54.2%
ps3: lol!

[capital1player]

the 360 failure rate was like %50

[Biggunz]

Squaretrade is a independent warranty company so they are only seeing a small portion of broken boxes considering M$ has a 3 year warranty.

It's safe to assume that the failure rate of the box is much higher then this.

[cmrbe]

Because it's covered under warrenty. Read the article. I don't know why this article is posted again.

[ChozenWoan]

Actually 50% is refering to how many gamers knew someone who has had RROD, not the actual percentage of consoles that have suffered from RROD. It would be nice if MS released the actual numbers so that this debate would be squashed once and for all.

[CryWolf]

More like 55.4% failure Rates with 360.

[Real Gambler]

"we believe that more customers bypass SquareTrade and reported failures directly to the Microsoft. In a survey of SquareTrade customers with Xbox 360s conducted by email, SquareTrade found that over half of our customers who experienced a RROD error reported their problem directly to Microsoft without contacting SquareTrade."

What's interesting though, is the fact that for the PS3, they don't even mention YLoD!!! It probably fall under "other", but still, that's the only thing we hear about in most websites... For sure, based on Square Trade finding, YLoD doesn't look as bad as some articles you can read all over the place! As a proud owner of a day 1 PS3, this thing was starting to get me nervous, but I guess I can sleep thight!

[shocky16]

Didn't know the PS3's was 10%, hope mine lasts *knocks wood*

Seems like the 360 is much lower then the 54% some people were shouting out.

[UNCyrus]

This is where it pays to read the article... The 21% 360 failure rate was ONLY counting failures that were outside of the 3-year extended warranty... Therefore, NOT RROD within three years or E-74 for that matter.

The one thing that I was confused about was that there was a category where the PS3 had errors for "disk tray". There is no disk tray! Someone explain this?

[HolyOrangeCows]

You're trying too hard.
10% is a decent rate for computer related electronics.

This is quite an old article, btw.

[Ausbo]

that 50% rate was a survey from game informer that included 5000 game informer readers. It is a survey that people could easily have lied about, that in no way reflects all of the 360 ownership.

With that said, it is probably closer to 30-33% which is still horrible.

My 360 has rroded once
and my friend is waiting for his 5th in the mail from MS.

However, i continue to play it, for the amazing game library that it has.

[Viper7]

Yellow light of death is quite rare malfunction among Ps3 gamers, it has sometimes something to do with overheating or it might be a problem with HDD or the things connecting ps3 to HDD making ps3 unable to read the hdd.

source for YLOD HDD
http://www.google.fi/search...

However discread errors have been sonys problem from days of the ps2, if not from the days of their first cd players. I remember quite a few friends telling me stories about how their portable cd players couldnt read the disks anymore.

source for ps2 discread errors
http://www.google.fi/search...

Sony really needs to fix the lasers of their products as its not really good to see similar defects product after product.

[Bathyj]

Others might be gloating about 35% compared to 10%, but 10% is too high for a company that outputs the quality of Sony. Its good by comparison, but not good enough. I would think and hope they tried to sort alot of stuff out with the slim.

And I resent the phrase Yellow Light of Death, "insert colour" of Death is a registered trademark of Microsoft. Its their biggest exclusive.

[evrfighter]

"And I resent the phrase Yellow Light of Death, "insert colour" of Death is a registered trademark of Microsoft. Its their biggest exclusive."

Well seeing as how M$ stole most of Sony's exclusives. It looks like Sony is out to steal M$'s biggest exclusive.

[Real Gambler]

Don't worry too much about the 10% figure...

Acceptable failure rate in electronic products in 3%. But that's per YEAR... So basically, if you sell 100 microwaves, there's a good chance that 3 of them will fail the first year. Then, even if not as likely, you could expect 2.9 on the second year. Then 2.8 more on the third year.

Now, if I call all 100 owners after 3 years, I will get 9 unhappy people (or 9%). Sure enough, for a microwave, it's much less than that... Yes, 3% will fail the first year (typical electronic component failure, bad assembly, etc), but after that, they will likely last forever, since they only are used a few minutes a day. PC and game consoles are another story though... They get abused... The only other electronic device in your house that get abused more, is likely your tv set. Most home have many, so luckily, hours are split among them. But take a quick survey in your family and friends. Ask 33 of them if they had a TV failure after buying a tv within 1 year, 2 year and 3 years. Out of 33, I'm sure you'll find 1, 2 or even 3! So, sleep thight!

[NegativeCreepWA]

I've never had a RROD, but I've had a lot of consoles die from disc read errors.
1 ps1
3 ps2s
3 xboxs
2 360s
All died from disc read errors. I get a two year warranty with every console I buy for this reason.

[KRUSSIDULL]

11.7% Failure rate and 23.7% for Xbox 360 with RRoD included. Stop spining Microsoft haters you fail.

[Mini Mario]

Holy crap, almost 1 in 4 ratio failure rate for the 360. And i thought the wii was the inferior console>?

[PimpHandHappy]

yea right

MS has spent over a billion on RROD with the extended warranty! They have the numbers and THEY KNOW they CAN NOT release em!

[CryWolf]

I think only reasons why people are still getting 360 even with the high failure rates are because it a cheap console and its American made by Microsoft if this was anyother normal company it wouldn't have a chance in hell like the Phantom console.

[kyiren]

Just like the cars here for so many years are crap you may find 1 or 2 that are good but for the most part american cars are crap. just like the 360 made in america with a built in timer to just fail so you have to buy another. thats why i stick with imports they never break down or i should say the % is way lower.

[MasterBlaster]

Xbox 360s are made in China.

[CryWolf]

You know what i mean, 360 was made by MS company first before china started to mass production in facility.

[RJ92009]

know what the gamecube ps2 and xbox failure rates are i had 2 gamecube's 2 ps2 and 3 xbox last gen lol this gen 1 ps3 2 wii and 13 360 lol

[NotSoSilentBob]

13? And you went back and got more after the 5th? Im guessing most of those are RROD/Warranty boxes?

[RJ92009]

had most of them fixed for free lol but i did buy the red xbox 360 i love red lol o i see i got a disagree lol sad but true 360 hardwere suck's but it has some great game's on it lol

[gamingisnotacrime]

which is why this repooan noterpreentae of the console failure rate. I really doubt the PS3 is at 10 % (too high) and the 24% for 360? we all know better than that

[kaveti6616]

Well, statistically speaking, it is accurate to an extent.

[shopsmartash]

ALWAYS a sampling of a larger quantity when dealing with something like this. Do you think any company, electronic or otherwise QC's every product that passes out of their doors? Nope, they sample per batch, and this is the same principle.

[PATthePlague]

The article specifically states that of the consoles they handle, this is the failure rate. They are not saying that this is the install base failure rate. Because its not representive of the install base and just a small proportion means that the failure rate is actually higher than the failure rates quoted.

Also, 25 million 360s means 25 million consoles bought, not actually active. There probably isn't really 25 million xbox 360 owners. Not with that failure rate which excludes the failures that MS handles. That number is most likely inflated by the many people that are replacing their broken 360s buy purchasing a new one with a improved HDMI enabled and lol supposedly defective proof jasper sku. My question to you is how many operational 360s are present in homes with a unique user? That is XBOX 360's real install base. Same thing goes with the PS3!

[ChrisW]

What? You think someone is going to go out there and personally check those multimillion consoles? NO! Learn, Statistics 101!!!

[woolley]

The Wii isn't as complex of a machine as the PS3 and 360. So of coarse it's gonna have less problems.

[BaSeBaLlKiD721]

I would have to disagree with you. The complexity of a hardware doesn't determine the quality of the hardware. It all depends on how the company manufactures them. If complexity was the case then PS3 would have more problems than the 360, which it doesn't.

[Saaking]

It seems this is the only time the 360 is #1.

[Azerach]

fail article... if MS is replacing consoles for FREE, why the f**k would you buy a third party warranty for your 360? the numbers are not representative AT ALL of the real numbers.

[BaSeBaLlKiD721]

because sometimes MS refuses to replace the system... I've seen it before many times and its BS.

[UNCyrus]

The extended warranty only covers specific errors... RROD, E-74, etc. If you look at all the charts and graphs within the article you will see that these aren't the only causes for failure of the 360.

[MegaPowa]

well i hope ps3 fanboys can calm down a little i mean seriously :| they always go overboard when it comes to another console. just play your ps3 and mind your business.

[TheOutsider]

GUY'S C'MON NOW ! BE NICE TO THE BASTARDS! ALL THE BOTS ARE GETTING BUTT HURT! HA HA HA!

[Blow Out Your Brains]

360's failure rate is 100%. Know why? It's just a matter of time before they all fail. RRoD comin to getcha...

[Downandout]

So is every other consumer electronic. Everything breaks sometime idiot ¬¬

[ramiuk1]

everyone know the failure rate for 360 is higher.
and whats with all the poop about different faults like RROD,overheating,freezing,disp ly issues lol,do these folks know nothing.

all of those faults are the start of RROD,so they should all be in the same graph.

i own a xbox 360 and ps3

[Foxgod]

No, only biased people think they know the % of rrods is higher.

[XxZxX]

and also biased ppl think RROD is lower than 33%

[Foxgod]

I am biased if i claim my 360 isnt so bad as sony fans claim?
Your last name must be Adams.

[glennc]

the 360 is no where near as bad as it was at launch but PS3 fanboys have nothing else to cling to. if you buy a new 360 today it does not have a 54% chance of dying so grow the f#$k up.

i need to find a gaming site that has intelligent comments. this is getting ridiculous .

[JonnyBigBoss]

These are some great figures and all, but the Microsoft warranty included with the Xbox 360 purchase is where a LOT of the failures go. These numbers are pretty solid, but still inaccurate.

[SuperStrokey1123]

They mention that essentially the 360 failure rate is ATLEAST 25%... thats abysmal.

[chadwarden]

The only reason the Wii doesnt break as much is because theres not much inside to break in the first place.

[glennc]

the wii just has so much less tech in it, doesn't push the system to a point where it heats up much. of course it won't fail as much. that is why things fail these days... too much technology crammed in, too much to go wrong. the wii is a glorified gamecube. i honestly can't tell the difference in graphics between them both.

[ChrisW]

No one seemed to notice the 10% failure rate of PS3s... It's NOT 0.5%!

Is every Sony Sheep too jaded by their beloved Sony's FALSE propaganda to care?!?

[ChrisW]

This article came out LAST month! Oh, yeah... that's ancient, sorry!

[Arkham]

How did this crap get approved when the story links to a file and not any verifiable source? C'mon. For all we know it's a loaded-PDF/JPG that's going to infect systems.

Link to sites, not files.

[AliTheBrit]

Lol lord this is going to be nuts xD

I have never had a next gen console fail on me, fingers crossed I won't

I'm most nervous about my PS3..if that fails Sony charge £130 for repairs 0_0

And it wouldn't surprise me, I'm pretty sure the launch day consoles are the ones most at risk from YLOD.

Luckily my 360 Elite is only a year old, so I'm covered for another 2 years :)

[hard joe]

m$ console in #1 in failure

[A LIVING LEGEND]

2 360's,one with disc tray problems,one with disc read errors.I am not going to bother with the 3rd.......warranty and will aside.
1 Wii(bought for my niece) but gets a TON of use in that household.It refused to read discs once so we "shook" it and it has worked since(1 year+)
One launch PS3 60gig,thousands of hours and 16+ sudden power outages(I live in the Canadian Rockies) power outages abound.
So;360 100% failure
Wii-problems,yet still works
PS3 Still running,loud(er) fan but no critical problems.
I am a microcosm........right?

[lightningsax]

For a while, I was laughing at all of this failure-rate nonsense! I never had one of my consoles crap out on me before... until last week. My old 40GB PS3's Blu-Ray lens died in the middle of my first play-through of Katamari Forever. Thankfully, due to a deal with Gamestop on PS3 trade-ins, I was able to get quite a bit for it while purchasing a Slim, even with the refurbishing fee.

It's good that Microsoft has a 3-year warranty, but I'd really like to have a system that keeps going, like many of the old NES/SNES's out there. I guess with all the complicated stuff that's going on in these systems, it's just not going to happen. I wonder what that means for the current DLC culture... are we really going to own any of these games in 15 years?

[Enigma_2099]

Just because your 360 RROD... it didn't fail.... it just won't work...

... what, did Microsoft fund this study? Is that why the RROD isn't that big an issue according to this thing?