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Report claims Xbox 360 failure rates at 16%, Wii and PS3 at 3%

Posted Feb 13, 2008 at 4:13PM EST by QJ Staff

Listed in: Wii, PS3, Xbox 360 Tags: Microsoft, Ring of Death, Sony

Red Ring of Death - Image 1

For those of us on a limited budget, buying a console involves careful consideration of the pros, cons, upcoming/released titles, and failure rates, or the chances of a console bricking itself during usage. On this matter, we receive a report from SquareTrade, an online independent warranty provider, and the numbers (that is, the failure rates for all three consoles) is a bit surprising.

So, what ARE the numbers? As we all know, Microsoft's green machine, the Xbox 360, has a particularly-annoying (and prevalent) gremlin known as the Red Ring of Death - and predictably, it has the highest failure rate of all three consoles, weighing in at around 16%. The Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii slipped by with only 3%. Do note that the sample size for all three consoles number in the high hundreds, with SquareTrade using its numerous warranty claims as the basis.

While the figures are certainly high for the Xbox 360, it's definitely a sight better than the 33% failure rate that it had been branded with. But that's not where the good news begins, as SquareTrade CEO Steve Abernethy predicts that this percentage will slowly rise over time as currently-working consoles keep getting used. His statement, verbatim:

It is reasonable to believe these failure rates will increase over time, since the Xbox 360 failure issues tend to increase with prolonged use where overheating appears the main culprit.

Of course, this prediction may or may not ring true, as Steve himself admitted that the company didn't keep track of motherboard variations while they were compiling the numbers for the Xbox 360, estimating that a fair number of the claims received came from owners of the first iteration. So if Microsoft keeps pushing better, faster, and cooler units, that failure rate may soon dwindle into nothing. Here's hoping so, in any case, and you can read more about this by clicking on the via link below.

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I'm sorry, but given the total population size is multiple millions, "high hundreds" isn't a terribly significant sample size, statistically speaking. The confidence bands that go along with these figures (statistics are meaningless without these) gotta be around +/-50% or worse, which is to say that you can only be confident of the results to be within +/-50% of actual value. Confidence bands are almost never reported, though, either because the person reporting is too lazy to calculate it or because the number would make their report look bad or maybe both.

# dumb 360 — The Obsidian 2008-02-14 04:33

well no i like my 360 ok even if it is from microsoft....its just really and truly a piece of junk...it has had some problems with the red lights of death and on the top it has dark spots on it......

# oh yeah and — The Obsidian 2008-02-14 05:04

My wiis fan stopped working which caused it to turn off to keep it from getting to hot and i had to send it in and they sent me a brand new one with all my mii back on it and they let me get my old Virtual console game back for free. Sucked that i didnt have it for a while but it worked out ok ^_^

# join the club — GW2 2008-02-14 06:11

360 number 5 right here

# God must have blessed my 360. — yworob 2008-02-14 06:32

Ive had my 360 since launch day in 2005 and it still works just fine. I have probably used it for over 500 hours over the last couple of years. Heck, I spent about 50 of them just on Mass Effect.

# pretty sad — logicbomb.de 2008-02-14 07:02

The last two EB Games I was at had their 360 Kiosks just sitting their with the 3 red lights blinking and the Samsung HD monitor with a blank screen pathetically declaring "NO INPUT"

Very dissapointing, MS shame on you!

my 2002 original Xbox is still kicking even after thousands of hours of halo 2 and xbmc streaming.

who'd have thunk it?

# Just turn it off — Mister Commune Ist 2008-02-14 12:34

I've had my 360 since Dec 2006 and never had a problem. My nephew got an 360 arcade for Christmas in 2007, and it's already broken. It's because he leaves it on ALL DAMN DAY. People wouldn't have problems with overheating if they would turn it off when they aren't playing it.

# well — na2rul 2008-02-14 12:52

i do use my 360 1-3 times a week and if i do, it cud posibly be prolonged use of upto 4-6 hrs......lol.

i treat it not any different compared with any other console.

it all depends on ur very own xbox and luck. not "oh u r retarded, u cant take care of it" bullsh*t.

# halo 2 is still a very decent game — na2rul 2008-02-14 13:00

and was well ahead of itself back in 2004 i really do admire that.

I was expecting that same leap transition from H2 to H3 as did H1 to H2. i was disapointed.

H2 on 360 can almost lk identicle to H3 on 360+HDTV. Plays exactly the same expect bumber buttons, X,Y etc.

# Your system doesn't count MCS — Stealth! 2008-02-14 16:47

You mod your system, voiding your 3 year warranty so of course yours should be better.

Anyway as time goes by these systems will increase there failure rate, its almost certain. Hell the PS3 and Wii was below 1% now they are 3%. So as long as the companies know what to expect and its all going to be find.

# lol — RommelTJ 2008-02-14 17:30

I've left my PS3 on for a complete week doing folding@Home and it didn't break.

# ,,,,,,,, — Kingofdaberbz 2008-02-14 17:51

I hope u do know these are INCLUDING the zephrs(original 360) So including them it's 16%,the falcons only have a 10% if not less failure rate so if u buy a 360 today there's a 90% (if not more) chance it Won't fail.Also,it's good what the Wii and ps3 are doing making reliable consoles from the get go.ms should of delayed the 360 it wasn't ready.

# Skewed numbers — damonous 2008-02-14 17:52

This article is not enough to suddenly say that "ALL" 360's have a failure rate of only 16%. Square Trade is only an extended warranty provider. So, that 16% would be based only upon that limited number of 360's (since MS extended warranty themselves in July 2007) that are outside of manufacturer warranty somehow. ---So it has little to nothing to do with the actual, overall percentage of failed 360's (which MS themselves repair). I think the 33% figure is still not only more accurate, but probably optimistic.

# XBOX — The Obsidian 2008-02-15 05:12

No dude dont even joke the Original Xbox was a beast! U could probably throw it against a wall and it still work.

# just got to say... — ONESTEP 2008-02-16 17:24

http://www.ps3vault.com/how-to-kill-a-ps3-console-1975

# Extra Venting on the Xbox 360 — coneman58 2008-02-22 16:58

I really love my console Game systems, I own all three of the best. I love my 360 as much as my PS3, and of course I had to buy a Wii for my wife. I actually own two 360's (One for back up) I've only had one problem with the RROD and it was taken care of very quickly by microsoft. What I would like to know is, if anyone has actually added extra venting to the xbox 360 case? I know it would void warranties and all, but what the heck!! I know as soon as my older 360 is out of warranty I'm going to try something out, at least crack the case and take a look at possible venting positions to help it out. right now I use auxillary fan units for my consoles that are in my home theater. and they work great and I haven't had a problem since. I hope someone out there has tried venting the 360 case, and can let me know how it worked....

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Report claims Xbox 360 failure rates at 16%, Wii and PS3 at 3%

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