A new report by Dean Takahashi, the author of Opening the Xbox and The Xbox 360 Unlocked, concludes that Microsoft knew that the Xbox 360 had a 68% failure rate at launch, but were unwilling to stop production on the console. The decision to keep plowing ahead and get the defective Xbox 360s out early added up to over one billion dollars worth of extended warranties and fixes. Also according to Takahashi, the decision crippled Microsoft’s ability to price the console as “aggressively” as they would have liked.
Takahashi’s biggest bang in his new report is wrapped around an anonymous source who said that Microsoft were adding “too many features after things were locked down” and added “[t]hat incremental feature adding just made [the Xbox 360] fragile.” The report then claims that Microsoft went ahead with the production process, despite a 68 percent defect rate.
In the end, Takahashi concludes that the issue has cost Microsoft more than repair money. It cost the publisher the ability to push a price point to compete with the Wii. He states, "The quality problem negated much of the advantage of going first, and it has delayed the company's plan to aggressively market the console and slash its prices.”
While I can’t argue that it was a terrible business decision to go ahead with such an astounding defect rate, what was with all the surprise when people first started reporting all of the failures around launch? I find it hard to believe the Peter Moore could feign complete ignorance of the issue so long, so well. Do you guys think this is as insidious as Takahashi claims? How many Xbox 360s have you gone through?
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Contest:
8:58 AM on 09.08.2008
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i lost one to RRoD and probably would've lost the replacement had it not been for a friend that manages a Gamestop who allowed me to swap it for an Elite. 'what' you know isn't always more important than 'who'.
as a result, i won't be buying an xbox "anything" as far as successors are concerned until it's been on the market for at least two years if at all. fool me once...
In fairness, Sony have done this kinda thing too. The original PS1 had a very serious hardware fault in the initial batches were the cd rom drive broke eventually. I went through two PS1s that way. The first was fine cos it broke after a month and was in warranty, but the replacement busted after it was out of warranty and I had to get a third PS1.
Actually now that I think about it, does anyone else remember the fact that some models of the PS1 wouldn't read games released later in its lifecycle? Mine wouldn't play Tenchu for example. It was something to do with serial numbers for the games. It used to happen on my Megadrive too, it wouldn't play games made by certain developers such as Virgin Games (no Cool Spot for me till I got the Megadrive 2. Which was awesome BTW).
Nintendo hasn't let me down yet, so at least that's something.
We've known they knew about the yield fail rate ever since that ex-developer dished the juice. He even specified what the fail was.
Of course they knew. And they went with it anyway.
xbox has the most frustrating customer support on the planet.
Also, hasn't this been covered to death in many, many 'whistleblower' and analysis stories?
Off topic, but I actually went through four PS1's; those thing were not well-built either.
Of all my computer and home theater gear, I've never had as much trouble as I have with the 360. It's a shame that it's so damn fun when it works!
Personally i love my 360 (hasnt broken touck cocks) best system since the snes/megadrive(genesis)
i was on the fence to get a 360, but i shall pass.
Of the remaining 32%, a lot had latent problems which showed up later (something which is pretty likely when you have such a low yield from product) . . . these are the customer reported RROD systems.
I think your post implies that 68% of Xbox 360's sold to customers were defective, which I don't believe is accurate.
This just goes to show that M$ knows how gullible their userbase is and doesn't care how bad they treat them.
I've never had a red ring and never had to send my console in for repairs, but it's like I've got a bomb in my living room and I'm just waiting for the day when it's no longer usable.
I just know that next time round many people, including myself, will be waiting a good long while before looking into the new Xbox.
I still play my Xbox mind you.
This just goes to show that M$ knows how gullible their userbase is and doesn't care how bad they treat them.[/i]
You just insulted about half of Dtoid and your friend. Sweet.
Thank God for the extended warrenty:O
Which still wouldn't be accurate since many owners have been through more then one.
No wonder they had shortages :D
So yeah, I'd say him as well as the vast majority of xbox users are morons. Although there are exceptions. He is my homie though, I've known him for over 20 years. That doesn't change the facts.
It's risk vs reward, baby - and this train we on ain't got no stops! Shiny wire of hope! YEAH!
@JO3yyz: I agree, the customer support team was horrible, and rude.
...because I wuv mah threeshitty. Seriously, it's not that bad of a console.
Ugh.. I know someone that has had to send their PS3 back to Sony due to video problems.
I don't think the majority of 360 owners are that dumb, but I do think some rockheads tried to mod their 360 (so they could pwn at Haloz) and caused their own fails, but instead of owning up to their mistakes, blamed it on MS. Not to mention many that put their 360 on their carpeted floor or inside a cramped entertainment center. -_-
i laughed so freaking hard.
fortunately i'm still on my first. from last christmas. little loud, and has occasionally frozen once of twice when loading games. but that's it thankfully. RRoD isn't as common down here in Aus as it is in the US. maybe because the gaming community isn't as large or hardcore.. i did see a news report abot sme guy who had been through 4 360's since launch. I laughed.