Microsoft squashes red ring of death and refunds all gamers with past troubles

Open Letter From Peter Moore

To our Xbox Community:

You've spoken, and we’ve heard you. Good service and a good customer experience are areas of the business that we care deeply about. And frankly, we've not been doing a good enough job.   

Some of you have expressed frustration with the customer experiences you have had with Xbox 360; frustration with having to return your console for service after receiving the general hardware error message on the console. 

The majority of customers who own Xbox 360 consoles have had a terrific experience from their first day, and continue to, day in and day out. But when anyone questions the reliability of our product, or our commitment to our customers, it's something I take very seriously.

We have been following this issue closely, and with on-going testing have identified several factors that can cause a general hardware failure indicated by three flashing red lights on the console. To address this issue, and as part of our ongoing work, we have already made certain improvements to the console.

We are also implementing some important policy changes intended to keep you in the game, worry-free. 

As of today, all Xbox 360 consoles are covered by an enhanced warranty program to address specifically the general hardware failures indicated by the three flashing red lights on the console. This applies to new and previously-sold consoles. While we will still have a general one year console warranty (two years in some countries), we are announcing  today a three-year warranty that covers any console that displays a three flashing red lights error message. If a customer has an issue indicated by the three flashing red lights, Microsoft will repair the console free of charge—including shipping—for three years from the console’s purchase date. We will also retroactively reimburse any of you who paid for repairs related to problems indicated by this error message in the past. In doing so, Microsoft stands behind its products and takes responsibility to ensure that every Xbox 360 console owner continues to have a fantastic gaming experience.

If we have let any of you down in the experience you have had with your Xbox 360, we sincerely apologize. We are taking responsibility and are making these changes to ensure that every Xbox 360 owner continues to have a great experience.  

This will take a few days to roll out globally, and I appreciate your continued patience as we launch this program. I've posted an FAQ that should address some additional questions, and we'll update it over the next few days. 

I want to thank you, on behalf of all us at Microsoft, for your loyalty.  

This means that anyone who's ever had to return a 360 due to the RROD and / or pay any sort of repair costs will be completely reimbursed. In a way, this is Microsoft admitting there is a serious failure rate with the 360, just without directly saying it. On the other hand, they are taking the problem head on, and with M$'s deep pockets, this move is sure to win over a lot of gamers who have become seriously disenchanted with a system that dies on them once, twice, or even eleven times. 

This is a huge move, and one Sony could learn from. Sure, the PS3 works, but Sony made quite a few mistakes with their whole "This is a marathon, not a sprint" attitude (as opposed to Nintendo's "This is a sprint, give us your moneez!!1"), and that's clearly something that fans are not willing to pay for. 

On behalf of 360 gamers, Destructoid, and the industry in general, you done good today Microsoft. You done good.

[Special thanks to Joe Burling for rocking me to sleep last night. Adam Sandler movies are just too scary!]