CNET recently conducted a survey of console system owners in the U.K. It showed a 60 percent failure rate of Xbox 360 consoles compared to 16 percent for the PS3 and six percent for the Wii. This is compared to a Game Informer survey that reported a 54 percent failure for the Xbox 360, compared to 10 percent for PS3 and 7 percent for Wii.
Despite claims that most Xbox 360 failures are in the past, the survey found that 34 percent of Xbox 360 owners reported failures since buying their system since January 2008 and 47 percent reporting failure within a year of purchase. A full 32 percent of Xbox 360 owners say it has broken twice and 19 percent say it has ceased to function three times or more.
The survey was self-selecting and not random, and comes with a higher chance of error as a consequence. Still, the survey contributes to the mountain of anecdotal evidence that suggests that the Xbox 360 failure rate is very high.
