Microsoft's 54.2% Epic Fail

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Microsoft’s 54.2% Epic Fail

Submitted by Vikki Blake on August 20, 2009 – 5:30 pm16 Comments

red_ring_of_death

A survey of 5000 console owners concludes that over half of XBox 360s – a whopping (though not particularly surprising) 54.2% – have failed their owners. Worse still, 41.2% have experienced hardware failures twice. Place those stats next to Sony’s PS3 10.6% failure rate and the Nintendo Wii’s 6.8% and seriously … Microsoft should be feeling kind of embarrassed. It’s worse when you think of it in actual terms; with 30m sales worldwide, that works out at around 15.72 million red rings of death … or three times the population of London, if you’re like me and enjoy sensationalising things.

The results stem from a poll undertaken by Game Informer magazine, which surveyed subscribers for its September issue. It’s that second hardware failure statistic – a staggering 41.2% (or 1.2 times the entire population of New York City ZOMG!!11!) – that surprises me most. Not to mention the subsequent statistic that revealed that 96.2% of the respondents wouldn’t let a hardware failure put them off buying a 360 again. No wonder MS is hiking up prices.

People are trying to justify it. The Wii looks healthier on paper, sure, but is that just because it’s played less? 40% of 360 owners play for 3-5 hours day; compared to the Wii’s paltry less-than-one-hour-a-day, you can see why some are trying to play it down.

Want more numbers? No problem! Hit the jump and discover just how badly MS’s customer services seems to fair, too …

Game Informer also asked respondents about their experiences with the three platform-holders’ customer service departments. Again, Nintendo came out on top, with 56.1% of people surveyed reporting they were “very satisfied” with their experiences. Sony came in at 51.1% satisfaction rate, trailed by Microsoft and 37.7%. Here’s the rundown:

Console Failure Rate:
PlayStation 3 – 10.6 percent
Wii – 6.8 percent
Xbox 360 – 54.2 percent

Second Console Failure Rate
PlayStation 3 – 14.7 percent
Wii – 11 percent
Xbox 360 – 41.2 percent

Gamers with Friends Who Have Had a Failure
PlayStation 3 – 12.4 percent
Wii – 6 percent
Xbox 360 – 69.9 percent

“Very Helpful” Customer Rating
Sony – 51.1 percent
Nintendo – 56.1 percent
Microsoft – 37.7 percent

Does this tally with your own experiences?

Source: GameSpot UK

Tags: Microsoft, red ring of death, XBOX 360

http://www.aeropause.com ShaneW

And I wonder of that 54.2% how many have returned their box more than once. I've been lucky with only one return.
Jordan_Snyder

5,000 isn't exactly a good size of people for this survey, but it is safe to say that the 360 definitely has the greatest failure rate. That said, my 360 has only red-ringed once. Also, the customer service is fine for Microsoft. Indian, yes, but fine.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Richard-Windsor/761743905 Richard Windsor

You probably have a + – of nearly 30% with an unscientific poll like this. I think that the percentage is more in the high 30's, but then again what do I know.

It just goes to show how farther ahead of the curve Microsoft has become with gaming lately that they have a piece of hardware that had such issues for the first 3 years and the vast majority of gamers don't care. They are willing to re-buy and put up with the RROD nightmare. If the PS3 had this issue in its early stages, it may sunk Sony with all their financial issues.

I am wondering how long before we see a move by Microsoft to battle the new PS3 slim.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Tony-Sadowski/506807615 Tony Sadowski

Is that all? Seems low, to me.
william745

they did a very similar poll not to long ago on cag and they came up with 52 or 53% failure rate. so i do think that the numbers are arcuate.
Vixx

Me too. If I even do a straw poll of even just my friends and family, more than half have been RRODed.

I actually think that 5000 is a decent survey size.
http://www.aeropause.com mclazyj

I am not going to be a Microsoft apologist and say everything is fine in Xbox 360 land, because there are hardware issues. However, I think either people are really hit by this problem or they are missed completely. While I did get a RROD on my 360 last year, it was a launch 360 and it went 2.5 years without the issue. I know others have gone through 4-6 units, which sucks, and will probably make them more vocal.

As for the survey size, without having a controlled focus group and other mitigating factors, it loses a lot of credibility. If you are going to perform a survey like this, get in depth with it and make some critical analysis. Don't give me a survey of 5000 GI readers that got little polling cards or filled out a web survey. That does not make a statistical study. I am sure they pointed this out, but like Fourhman, I am a statistics junkie and seeing half-baked surveys like this grinds my gears.

Yes, we all know there is a major hardware fault that has gotten better over the past three years, but please, construct a survey that has some more weight and analysis behind it.
Vixx

Right, that's it – this needs professionals! I sit next to a team of statisticians in work. When I'm back in on Monday I'm gonna ask them what they think of this survey.

For the record, I've never been RRODed in two and a half years. But my brother's had three in two years – with two different consoles. Just because, to date, it's missed me completely, doesn't make my bro's suffering any less. Sob.
http://www.aeropause.com mclazyj

Agreed. I just wonder if there is a way to nail down how people are affected. Like I said earlier, I have been gaming on my 360 quite a bit (not as much as my PC, but a fair amount) but have been hit by the RROD once. A forum friend plays his 360 about as much as I do, but has had five replacements. Curiously strange.
william745

the past two something years i have had mine it has had the rrod twice so i am looking foward to the new year. microsoft should just hire people that build their own pc's to make the next xbox.
morphiend

When you're playing Kong, Onechabra, Netflix, Lost, and Kung Fu Panda, I don't think you're really stressing the system.
Jonah

I have lost count of how many 360s I have had. I my Premium was returned 2 times and then it died again out of warranty and I then bought the Arcade, and now have HDMI. I think if they would replace the ones that died with new ones, not refurbs, the number would be lower. But, I love the 360 and would purchase another if I had to in the future. That's where my games that I want to play are. But, also, I have a Playstation 3 that has died once and has been replaced. My experience with both customer service groups have been similar and resulted in the required actions.
http://www.aeropause.com mclazyj

Also factor in things like Mass Effect, Gears of War 2, and Dead Rising. Holy crap does Dead Rising take a toll on the DVD drive. Man, I still think that is the game that killed my 360. It was not the one in the drive when it died, but it was shortly after I had finished playing that game.
Vixx

Right! As promised, stopped by our friendly stats team and asked for their POV:

5000 is a sizeable sample from which to draw comment, and she thinks that surveying a gaming magazine's subscribers is a pretty fair place to find respondents (they'd be more knowledgeable than the average guy on the street, which in this instance adds credibility to the research). That said, there's no evidence that it was controlled (i.e. only one response per person) so it's not a truly robust exercise.

In summary, she thought that it was probably a fair and credible picture of what's going on. It's just that without the controls, it's hardly scientific proof, either.
http://silenthillheaven.com Vixx

Right! As promised, stopped by our friendly stats team and asked for their POV:

5000 is a sizeable sample from which to draw comment, and she thinks that surveying a gaming magazine's subscribers is a pretty fair place to find respondents (they'd be more knowledgeable than the average guy on the street, which in this instance adds credibility to the research). That said, there's no evidence that it was controlled (i.e. only one response per person) so it's not a truly robust exercise.

In summary, she thought that it was probably a fair and credible picture of what's going on. It's just that without the controls, it's hardly scientific proof, either.
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