Microsoft's hardware problems are well known. The company had to extend its warranty to three years on Xbox 360, and lost a billion dollars in the process. To this day, people still complain about the console's reliability and the so called "Red Ring of Death." A recent survey by magazine GameInformer found that 55 percent of respondents suffered through a 360 failure but Xbox Live and Xbox 360 director of product management Aaron Greenberg believes the hardware problems are now in the rear-view mirror at this point, since the company has continually made improvements on internal components.
Today, IndustryGamers received new survey data from SquareTrade, which claims to be the largest independent warranty provider in the world. The study compared the malfunction rates for all three consoles and found the Wii to be nine times more reliable than Xbox 360 and four times more reliable than PS3. That said, there has been significant improvement with Xbox 360 and the RROD problem. SquareTrade’s data shows that the introduction of the “Jasper” chipset in late 2008 "has likely solved" the RROD problem.
Number of reported RRODs (in year 1) divided by total units covered by SquareTrade – by item purchase quarter.
Other highlights of the study include:
- During the first two years of ownership, 2.7 percent of Wii owners reported a system failure to SquareTrade, compared with 10 percent of PlayStation 3 owners and 23.7 percent of Xbox 360 owners.
- Excluding RROD failures, which are covered by Microsoft’s three-year warranty, 11.7 percent of Xbox 360 owners reported a failure.
- While the RROD problem continued to be the major issue for Xbox 360s purchased through 2008, early indications point to theproblem abating in 2009.
- The most common types of problems seen with the PS3 and Xbox 360 were disc read errors and output issues. The Wii had more power and remote control issues than the other 2 systems.
SquareTrade based its findings on an analysis of failure rates for over 16,000 new game consoles covered by SquareTrade Care Plans. You can check out the full pdf report here.
Also see: Aside from hardware quality, check out this EEDAR report on game quality, which shows big improvement for Wii.
20 Comments
September 1, 2009
Not gonna change my opinions on Microsoft, who knew about the hardware failures but still did not recall to fix them. I wonder how many Xbox360 users are on their second or third systems?
September 1, 2009
I agree, I'm actually on my third 360, as opposed to the ps3 which i got in 2007, still running as new. As for how reliable the Wii is, I don't think the Wii needs to have any problems considering it doesn't really compute any significant data or games i.e. 1080p games, blu ray, mind blowing graphics games, or an online shooter with a dedicated community. So obviously, the wii isnt going to have problems.
September 1, 2009
Keep in mind that Nintendo has always had super reliable/durable hardware both in consoles and handhelds. Even if the Wii had been more technologically advanced like PS3/360 I'd bet it would still win for "most reliable."
September 1, 2009
Good thing I got a Jasper earlier this year for $240 when Circuit City was going out of business. Hopefully my console last forever....or atleast 10 years.
September 1, 2009
But you also have to realize that the Wii is not targeted towards the "hardcore" demographic. Its targeted towards kids, parents, and the elderly. They may play the system for at most an hour or so a day. Whereas a hardcore gamer will put in at least 4 or 5 hours.
I do agree that previous Nintendo consoles are very durable/reliable. Hell I still have my old NES and N64, and they still work with no problem.
September 1, 2009
Say what you will about the reliability of the 360, Microsoft has done a nice job of standing behind their product. My Xbox 360 has had the RROD twice now and Microsoft made the return process very painless and quick. That being said, I certainly hope I don't have another system failure because I'm not sure it would be covered and quite frankly twice is enough.
September 1, 2009
Recall, recall... listen people, NOBODY in ANY industry issues a recall for their product unless it is UNSAFE. Regardless of the issues of the three consoles, none of them have been deemed unsafe. If they had a 100% failure rate, it wouldn't matter Only safety gets an item recalled.
Case in point, the 2.4 million or whatever it was DVD players wold by Wal-Mart that were just recalled. They weren't recalled because they didn't work. They were recalled because they could get hot and start fires.
Stop with the recall stuff, already. It's unreasonable to ask Microsoft to do something that no other company in any industry would be expected to do.
September 1, 2009
"James Brightman
5 hours ago
Keep in mind that Nintendo has always had super reliable/durable hardware both in consoles and handhelds. Even if the Wii had been more technologically advanced like PS3/360 I'd bet it would still win for "most reliable."
Sorry, I gotta call "BS" on this post. Apparently, you never had to blow into an NES cartridge or pop a GameBoy cartridge in and out about thirty or forty times before it would "take."
September 1, 2009
@SpaceGhost2K, yes I'm well aware of the old problem on the NES and had to blow into the cartridge too. The GameBoy cartridge thing never really happened to me actually - maybe I was lucky. But you're pointing to their oldest hardware. Did you ever have trouble with SNES, N64, GCN, GBA, DS or Wii? I never have, and I've rarely heard any stories of trouble. So my point is that their track record is still superior.
September 1, 2009
Personally, I am more interested in PS2 hardware failures, such as DRE or the Motherboard adhesive coming apart while in an upright position. Some sites have stated that there was as much as 50% failure rate in the first years of PS2.
But no one seems to remember this... not even PS2 owners.
September 2, 2009
The fact is when new companies enter the hardware market they are going to have issues, Sony had them with the PS1 and PS2, Microsoft is having them now, I'm kinda surprised the original Xbox didn't have more problems considering it was one of (if not the first) piece of hardware the company made.
September 2, 2009
@Rustyaries
While I wholeheartedly agree with you, the PS1 and PS2 were never rushed through to production. Sony had ample time to test and remove faulty hardware that they were aware of before it was released to the public.
The XBOX360 was rushed through to production because Microsoft wanted a hold on the market before the PS3 was released. In doing so, they missed a lot of bugs and hardware problems that could have been addressed before the system was released. They wanted the money, and they got it at no expense to themselves.
Who did it cost? The gamers, that's who. When your system breaks down, you either repair it or buy a new one. The 360 broke down so often that people are on their third or fourth consoles or more! The 360, personally, is the first of my consoles to break down (E74, not RRoD), and it angers me that MS thinks only of the bottom line rather then the consumer. Like I previously said, If my 360 breaks down again I won't be buying another or getting it fixed.
The sad thing though is that they can get away with it. Although there have been a few times where Microsoft has been called out on the RRoD, it took them A FEW YEARS before they properly addressed the problem. And the gamers let them get away with it.
If a console developer thinks they can milk me of my money on their defective console and expect me to keep using it they are sorely mistaken.
September 2, 2009
SpaceGhost: Microsoft won't issue a recall on the Xbox 360 because of how much of a hassle it would be and they couldn't be legally compelled to because the system isn't dangerous. It's still a fact that early generation Xbox 360s have a flawed design that cause the majority to fail within a few years (if not sooner) – the more "stand up" thing would have been to not ship the system in the first place until they ironed out those issues.
Everyone I've known that's owned the system has suffered at least one hardware failure (one person I know is on his sixth Xbox 360). Microsoft has extended their warranty, but it isn't out of the goodness of their hearts – they just don't want to be smacked with a class action lawsuit for selling something that's defective. It's also why everyone at Microsoft is very evasive about the Xbox 360 rate of failure, trying instead to deflect the issue back to their warranty service.
Incidentally, I think part of what may be keeping the Wii failure rate lower than the PS3/Xbox 360 is that fewer people might be using it as a media device, i.e. as a downloaded movie/DVD/Blu-ray player. Those extra "miles" really matter, especially when talking about a spinning drive.
September 2, 2009
Does anyone find it interesting that you cannot find ANYTHING about DRE (Disk Read Error) for the PS2 on Wikipedia, but you can find RROD?
Sony has made sure that no one remembers...
No one remembers DREs...
No one remembers that Sony was sued and they agreed to settle its "disc read error" lawsuit by paying affected gamers US$25, a free game from a specified list, and (of course) the reduced cost repair or replacement (at SCEA’s discretion) of the damaged system!
Why so much reimbursement for a small percentage of failures? Because it wasn't a small percentage! And no one remembers this only 7 years ago (back in 2002)!
No one [i.e. PS fans] remembers, because they have been literally reprogrammed, don't want to remember, or are simply too jaded to remember!
September 3, 2009
The other thing no one seems to remember or care about at all is that the 360 wasnt just rushed into production to keep them ahead of Sony. Nvidia quit making the chipset used in the Xbox despite Microsoft asking them not to. If you ask anyone that knows something about business and economics, you never just stop selling a product because thats a straight loss of profit and huge expense to the company.
Anytime a new console comes out on the market the said company is still selling and manufacturing their old consoles for a time. My point being that Microsoft didnt have much of a choice. Its better to have a failure rate of 33% and sell consoles then sell nothing for 3 months and take a huge financial hit.
September 3, 2009
I've never read anywhere else that Nvidia stopped producing the GPU despite Microsoft's wishes. Regardless, I have my doubts about that, because Microsoft seemed pretty determined to launch their new console later in 2005. The original Xbox was always a huge loss leader for Microsoft and they were determined to turn things around with the Xbox 360 (aka, launch ahead of Sony instead of behind them). They didn't have anything more in the pipeline software-wise for the Xbox; they really wanted people to buy their new console.
Companies only continue to sell old hardware when it favors them to do so – when Nvidia stopped producing the GPU cores for the Xbox in August 2005, it fits that Microsoft was just burning through the remaining parts to meet existing demand and "dry out" the retail channel of original Xbox units in order to make space for the Xbox 360.
BTW, Microsoft's profits are hugely driven by their OS and Office program business, not their Entertainment Division.
September 20, 2009
There is really only one fact needed to prove that Microsoft will never produce a more decent system than Sony or Nintendo.
There is only one way to look at it...
Microsoft = American company
Sony & Nintendo = Foreign companies
Now either that's a coincidence, or Americans just suck at making video game consoles.
This is just another example of foreign countries advancing faster in technology and know-how than us, i.e. (Cars, computers, TV's, game consoles, portable electronics, etc.)
Must I go on?
October 7, 2009
Ring of death xbox fix is also discussed in this article for those of us who are out of warranty.
http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200907/1246572584.html
January 21, 2010
The Xbox360, the PS2, and the NES have to have been the worst systems ever when it comes down to failure rates. The NES being top because the front loading systems will inevitably deteriorate over time.
Secondly, I had to laugh at the guy who thought his 1080p graphics made him pretty hardcore. You said that the Wii isn't going to have as many failure rates because it doesn't compute as much. That is a very poor excuse, a system should be built to handle what it processes (not to mention that doesn't have anything to do with disk read errors). Also, you should not have to worry about system failure from regular use. If you do then it really shows right away how much you think of the system you selected. I use my wii as much as any "hardcore" gamer would use their systems, and it runs perfectly fine. My Atari has been played more than anna nichole smith, and it runs like a charm.
This is why I can't stand new gamers these days. You never have a clue what you are talking about, yet you are pretty content with proclaiming how hardcore you are.
July 17, 2010
This article helps a lot. Thank you..
gold
edhardy