Survey finds Xbox 360 is played five times as often as Wii, five times more likely to fail than PS3
By Tim Stevens 
posted Aug 18th 2009 7:42AM
posted Aug 18th 2009 7:42AM
Ready for some numbers this morning? Some scary, scary numbers for Xbox 360 gamers? Game Informer, current king of the smoldering ruins of the print gaming magazine empire, polled about 5,000 of its readers to get a feel for their gaming experiences, including just how many of them had unlocked the fabled "Red Ring of Death" achievement. We'd heard estimates ranging from 16 to 30 percent, but even the most pessimistic guesses don't line up with the survey's findings of a staggeringly high 54.2 percent failure rate. That's five times higher than the PS3's 10.6 percent, with the Wii coming in at 6.8 percent. Mind you, the Xbox 360 was the most played console, with over 40 percent of Xbox gamers button mashing for three to five hours a day, compared to 37 percent of PS3 gamers, and less than an hour's worth of gaming per day for 41.4 percent of Wii owners. However, game consoles should be designed to shrug off marathon sessions and just keep on spewing polygons, something that the first revisions of Microsoft's baby obviously couldn't manage.That said, there are some problems with this survey; as far as we can tell there was no verification made that respondents actually own the consoles that they indicated they did, and we all know how people like having fun at Microsoft's expense. Also, the survey was naturally only of readers of the magazine itself, who don't necessarily line up with the gaming world at large. But, it's impossible to deny there's truth in these numbers. Indeed, it's hard not to think they're too low, as you'll be hard-pressed to find an original Xbox 360 that hasn't thrown up the three-light salute. Even so, there's nothing to be proud of in Sony's 10.6 percent failure rate, or even Nintendo's 6.8, particularly given that system's relative lack of attention. All are much higher than the three percent most consumer electronics companies strive for -- and that Microsoft initially (incorrectly) claimed its console was managing.
[Via TG Daily, The Consumerist]
...Call it even then.
AHAHAH Even?
I think not.
Wii players have something Xbox players dont have. A Life.
Point #1; Wii player are fit not fat, get off your arse fatty!
Point #2; 5 times as likely to FAIL as a PS3? Crikey! talk about your overpriced pieces of crap. Americans prove once again, that they cannot design anything that is not crap, just like AMERICAN CARS.
Point #3; FU Xbox!
With a name like "meat_juice" you lose all credibility with the heterosexual community
PS3 is being played around 37% Xbox360 40%, so both consoles are heavily used
Failure rate XBOX360 55%~
PS3 10%~
wii 7%~
Failure rate for PS3/WII is normal for devices, but wth the xbox360 failure rate? it's too high
Does anyone remember the fail rate of the original PS2? I do, I got burned twice and Sony did not cover my ass when it needed repairs (Yes, less than a year old). After the second one died, I bought an Xbox.
My original 360 went RROD and my console was nearly 3 years old. Guess what, Microsoft repaired it FOR FREE. I was without my console for a couple of weeks, but thats not a big deal. My 360 is still going strong.
My point is, as least MS did something about their failure... that something Sony never does.
puggs you are kidding yourself if you think so, before this gen we have NEVER heard of people owning 5-8 PS2 that dies on them, but we have seen proven cases where people get up to 5-10 failed xbox360 , there was something so wrong with the xbox360 but as far as i know it was "fixed" with newer versions "jasber/falcon" or whatever they were called.
Many of you are too young to remember having to play the original Playstation upside down. That thing was a piece of crap! The laser would break if you looked at the machine funny!
Dr House... why am I kidding myself? Its a fact that I had 2 original PS2's and both failed to my expense. Yes, my Xbox 360 failed, but got repaired, by them. for free. What is hard to understand about that? That was MY experience and guess what, there are alot of other people out there that had theirs repaired for free, have you not heard? I am not defending MS for the bad job on their original Xboxes, but I am commending them for stepping up and repairing them.
Mark:
Oh man, that brings back memories. I ended up buying a broken 5xxx (I think) series Playstation and Frankensteining the laser into my old one.
You don't remember PSXs and PS2s failing all the time back in the day? Disc read errors, overheating, all that fun? A friend of mine went through maybe 4 PS2s, although he played like 6 hours a day, every day.
They weren't as bad as 360, and later models actually fixed the problems, but they were still weaksauce.
I just want to agree with the others - meat_juice, from that comment, you are a total moron and a tool to boot. Since you like to go out and play so much, I recommend the nearest highway.
@Mark
Wow, I remember that. Except I didn't turn it upside down, I had to lay it on it's side... >_>
Why are people mentioning the PS2's failure rate? The failure rate of the PS2 is irrelevant to the 360.
I get annoyed when people greatly applaud MS just for simply covering a device that is under warranty. By definition of a warranty, the company is supposed to cover the device, so they don't disserve great praise for doing something they are by law required to do IMO. The problem, is that the 360 has proven hardware design faults which *will* cause it to fail. Simply "repairing" and sending back someone else's repaired broken console does NOT fix the problem. Indeed, it only assures you will have to send it in again. Unless they actually FIX the hardware faults which cause the problem to happen, the fact that it's covered on a 3 year warranty does not make me satisfied.
Warranties are limited and expire. My warranty has recently expired. I called MS *4 days* after the warranty expired to see if I can re-new it. They told me that because my console is no longer under warranty, I can no longer renew it. This is despite them telling me during a previous phone call that I CAN renew the warranty, even if the console is not under warranty! Keep in mind, I'm currently on 360 #4, and despite having my console repaired in Feb of 2009, I received a Zephyr revision back. A revision from 2006! Can you guess what's going to happen to this console in a few more months? When it breaks, I will be forced to dish out $100+ to repair a product that they knowingly sent me will fail.
I don't care what Sony did with the PS2. It does not justify what MS has done with the 360. At least Sony eventually fixed the PS2 problems, whereas brand new 360's are still susceptible to the RROD, as they are still using the proven-to-cause-defects X-Clamps.
Having a warranty is not enough. I want the expensive product that I paid for to be reliable and work properly.
Oh, and don't get me started on their customer service...
@meat_juice
You know people disagree with you when I have to copy/paste your comment in Notepad just to disagree with it.
Failure rate statistics:
XBOX- 54.2%
PS3- 10.6%
Wii - 6.8%
http://consumerist.com/5338852/xbox-360-failure-rate-is-542-percent-game-informer-finds
I still have to blow out dust from my NES game cartridge. QTip is even used on some rare occassions.
In all seriousness I find the Wii numbers to be a little low. Mine has already been sent off for repair ($90 charge). Several of my friends/family were in the same boat. Personal experience is more like a 15-20% failure rate.
And just like Engadget's year end Best of Technology surveys (which Apple wins in every single category if they have a product), polls like this are very susceptible to easy manipulation by those that have an agenda.
Let me point out:
THIS WAS A POLL BY "GAME INFORMER" MAGAZINE.
You know-- The magazine you subscribe to through GameStop? The one you get only because you want a discount on a used game? At the place that sells used and refurbished Xbox 360 consoles to people?
Yeah.
Same here, Puggs. Went through 3 PS2's, none were repaired even though it was under warranty.
If the RROD was an achievement, it would have had a higher percentage then people completing level 1 of Kung Fu Panda Achievement.
meh, mines nearly 4 years old and never red ringed.
i guess i was lucky
My first XBOX 360 (release day) lasted about 3 years. After it failed, I had 2 additional failures within 12 months. All failures were RRoD. I'm now on my 4th unit, which is refurbished from Microsoft (manufactured in 2005, refurbished last year).
My guess is that the high failure rates are partly due to the same lemons being repaired, used as replacements, failing, and being returned again.
My dad and brother have had 1 failure each. Dad's was a bad optical sensor in the disc drive, don't remember what the problem was with my brother's (possibly RRoD, but I'm not sure).
My family's record: 5 failures in 8 units. However, we all have working XBOXes and Microsoft has been pretty keen on helping customers get their money's worth out of their purchases.
Sad story.
I also got mine within a month of launch and it is still chugging along no problems. (knock on wood)
I bought my first Xbox 360 in Dec 2005, had hard drive failure in two months (exchanged with GameStop for free), then RROD 1 year later (MS repaired for free, it actually died right before MS extended all coverage to 3 years), then RROD again 1.5 years later (MS repaired for free) had another RROD again about 6 months ago way outside the 3 year warranty and MS still repaired for free. It was annoying as anything to wait a few weeks each time, but at least I have only bought one Xbox 360
i have never had RROD and ive had a 360 since launch and an elite since its launch so going by statistics one of them should have broken by now, but no
I've got 3 360's. Never had a red ring on any of them.
What does one need with three of the same console?!
Media Center throughout the house.
3 separate Media Center extenders for each TV in the house, with a central PC as a Media Center server?
So why the hell do you have three?
yeah. All of the media is stored on Windows Home Server on an array of drives totalling 10TB. TV is recorded with an HDhomerun network tuner.
Works great and there's no monthly charge for the antenna :)
You could have bought one of these too, you know:
http://www.extenderforwindowsmediacenter.com/products.html
I guess the price was a factor (they're not much cheaper), but at least they're kind of reliable.
But if you haven't been gaming much with the Xboxes, I guess they never really heated up much.
Those were more expensive for quite some time. Now they don't work with h.264 encoding that is now available with windows 7. The 360 is cheaper and works perfectly.
True. Plus, it would make for one awesome LAN party.
I have 3 as well. I've been a media center junkie since xp. once you go media center, everything else is junk.
High five. I made it thru a PS, PS2, and now a 360 Elite, no problems.
Guess I don't play 'em enough.
I'll have to pick up that PS3 slim and see how it treats me...
Have to be some high decibels at your place.. I cant justify one xbox360 for its high soundlevel, what about 3 :)
Moral of the story: Using Xbox360 mainly as media center doesn't RROD but using it for gaming likely will.
So, does that mean that I shouldn't mention that two of them also are used for gaming? Still no RROD.
Wow so thhey poll gamers and say the 360 is played more even ignoring the fact that most of the wiis fan base is not gamers and wouldnt read game informer. That poll is so heavily biased.
"most of the wiis fanbase is not gamers" -most accurate opinion on the page
Exactly my thoughts.
Only hardcore gamers (or enthusiasts) make up most of Game Informer's subscriber base. The poll is statistically insignificant, especially the data about the Wii, since the largest part of Wii owners are either kids or light gamers, who don't care enough to sign up for a gaming magazine.
I'm guessing the non-hardcore Wii gamers play even less often, so if anything, the Wii usage number should be lower.
I know I haven't played the Wii in over a year, but I use my XBOX daily.
Not true. Most of the people who bought wii's were parents buying them for their kids. Parents at gamestop are easy to sell a gaming magazine that comes with discounts to. Ill bet quite a few of them paid the 10 dollar edge membership fee.
But how many of those consoles that RROD'd are still being played?
Mine is. So, while it failed, I sent it into MS and they fixed it for free and no more problems. While it did fail, it is not in the dump and still being used.
Ive had mine since launch and it has never RROD.
Its high...but that sounds too high....hell joystiq said had they polled just their writers it would have been 100%.....point is that if they would have broadened that survey to say 20,000 people it may have been slightly more realistic somewhere around 20%....unless they happen to purposely poll 20,000 people that had failures...
out of the 40-50 people I personally know with 360's ALL of them have sent their 360 in at LEAST twice.....would that be 100% but also unfair considering its such a small number of people
Also, don't forget that people with problems might be more interested in voicing their opinions; I haven't had a problem yet (knock on wood) but I didn't feel compelled to make my voice heard in any survey.
true....I've only had my Elite 360 for 5 months....I HOPE that mine is fine for at least a couple of years.....but since I only play 3-4 games on it it should be fine
Im sorry but 100% of 40-50 people is not a small number of failures. Its just ridiculous.
@Tsing Tao: Perhaps you missed the point of that. When you're talking about more than 10 million people who own the console, 40-50 is a statistically insignificant number.
Except that the Wii's and PS3's failure rates are MUCH lower so your theory doesn't really work.
Oh boy, let the war of the fanboy comments begin. Why did you start this up again Engadget?
Wait they Polled users on the internet and expected a realistic outcome? I wonder how many votes were made by people who actually owned those consoles?
I'm glad I'm not the only person who thought of this. If they had made up numbers completely out of thin air, they'd be more accurate than an online poll on a gaming site.
PS: I'm getting tired of having to copy-paste and re-send every comment I make on Engadget. How hard would it be to hire a high school student to code a working comment system? This is just embarrassing.
Yes, although the validity of this study is nonexistant it's still double lolburgers with secret roflsauce.
That either shows how fun the 360 is, or hoe shitty the wii is.
Which is it?!
Yeah the X360 is fun, the Wii is fun to, but its a big shame it lacks good online support and games.
360: shitty hardware
Wii: shitty software (not the games, but the OS and etc that *should* be running under them.)
With one you get failures. With the other you get no possibility for future expansion because the software is designed poorly. Pick your poison.
I won't even get into PS3.
You wouldn't be that hard pressed. I've owned 2 360's with zero problems.
Eh .. Id rather take my chances with my 2 360's then my Wii or PS3 that just sit collecting dust ... My PS3 died from then Yellow light of death and then the HD died a few months later .. My launch 360 RROD a few years ago .. so its even .. and Wii is just boring after the few good games
Anyhow i am pretty sure the newer ones are fine
How did your PS3 die twice if you just let it sit there collecting dust? Sounds like you play it a little more than you realize or more likely, are a 360 fanboy who doesn't even own a PS3.
OR...the dust it got sitting there got in side and when he finally fired it up...it caused problems. Oh ho!
Actually, I have a similar story. Bought a 360. Bought a PS3. 360 RROD's. I get sad, buy an elite. PS3 Dies. Sadness ensues. XBox 360 extends warranty. Get replacement for original 360. Sell replacement, buy new PS3. Elite DVD drive goes bad. Microsoft replaces it. End up with 2 working game consoles. Then, I learned to form full sentences, rather than simplifying my experiences into grammatically faulty sentence fragments.
Truth be told, my PS3 DOES collect dust. The most common thing it is used for is folding protein. My experience is similar to others. My XBox had more problems, but honestly gets more use. There are just more games that I play on it and the exclusives that PS3 have are the only things I use it for, other than blu-ray. The 360 serves as a media center extender and plays more of the games I want. My Wii is used for Smash Bros every...well, I remember using it that one time...
Basically, this article rings true from personal experience. People with 360s (even if they have other consoles) tend to use it the most of the 3. The Wii is used every so often (it will be used more when new Metroid, Mario and Zelda games come out) and the PS3 is used mostly for exclusives and Blu-Ray movies.
haha yeah i am lying about owning a PS3 .. i wish i were .. Actually i use it for whats it was intended for a Blu-ray player and its great for that reason.. Got it on launch day .. was pretty excited when i got it .. face it 99.9% of games that are on both 360 and Ps3 are a better experience on the 360 .. Looks a tad better and Xbox live though cost money is well worth it for online play ..
And i am a Dreamcast Fanboy .. thank you very much
OG_Phenix, you are freaking me out! That is exactly the way I would explain our house and console use/experience. Holy sh*t! (We even have 2 360's a PS3 and a Wii at home. Last Wii game I remember playing - yup, SSBB)
When I was subscribed to GI, I noticed they were somewhat anti-Nintendo. It doesn't surprise me that the numbers for Wii ownership is low
My 360 gets back from E74 repair today.
People play video games for three to five hours per day? Wow. I'm impressed.
Losers.
People who comment on a blog about people who play games 5 hrs a day ....
It beats having them hang out at the local food joint fighting each other for some egotistical dominance...
Wow. What a stream of hate. For those who don't already have a 360, if people are playing the console 5x more, maybe there's something about it you're not getting.
A lot of my 360 console use is just watching torrented TV shows & movies. Had mine since April of '08, no failures. It makes sense that a console that gets used more often is going to get higher failure rates. Wasn't the PS2 a hit & that had its share of problems?
Those numbers do seem a little high but none the less I think everyone knew what the outcome was going to be. The next set of numbers I'd like to see out of the big three is, whats the percentage of people paying for repairs compared to free repairs?
Mine rrod, and every person I know that has one has rrod that's at least 10 people at 100% failure rate. And some of these people live on the westcoast too LOL.
i think both sony and microsoft should talk each other for which..........one from XBL can go to PSN ..............And also from PSN to XBL.............i think this will make the gaming world ............ awesome.
Are you a bot?
My first console (purchased on launch day) lasted 14 months before it red ringed. (I left it on for 2 days in a closed cabinet, by accident) My second console, bought the day after the RRoD, has not given me any problems. I doubt the console's failure rate is even in the vicinity of 50%. But it is high.
I used to be a PC gamer, used to replacing one or two computer components every year or so. I guess I don't have the same expectations as everyone else.
MS doesn't deny they had some flaws and mistakes and cooling issues do they? in fact they redesigned the thing several times to fix it, and went with a flexible attitude for warranty handling, so there's no need to question if it's true after it's all admitted and well established surely.
I was wondering when this was going to hit Engadget. That number is too high.
1) Internet survey of people? Seriously?
2) People who have errors are usually the loudest, those without (me) fell little inclined to say anything about it.
3) 5,000 people? You can't extrapolate out 5,000 people to the millions of xbox users with less than a 20% error margin.
4) Who the hell reads Game Informer anyway?
completely agree... 2 of my friends have had their's RRoD but both got them fixed for free pretty quick (they are also hardcore gamers, so their 360's are on all the time) I have yet to have a problem with my elite (knock on wood x100000) Maybe i'm just lucky, but even if it did RRoD, i'd still get it fixed or if it broke i'd buy another one. Having the 360 for netflix, media center extending, and playing good games with my friends online is worth the failure rate to me, but to each his own.
Almost all surveys nowadays are done via the internet I'm told, often by poling companies who use a stable of regular poll subjects from which they select the number that need that day, people whom they hired to be available, meaning that ALL polls are subject to the same criticism, it's people with a certain slant and similarity in some way, like they all have internet, and all signed up for the job.
It seems funny to me. I've never seen a huge story about the PS3 blu ray laser failure yet when it happened to me, it seemed to be so widespread that finding a replacement laser was a bit of a chore. The new laser lasted about a month and now I have to replace it yet again at about $80 per pop!
Sounds like the powerdriving circuitry is maladjusted and replacing the laser will just keep burning them out ad ifnitum, like using a 6 volt lightbulb in a 7 volt socket, but don't try to tell them that, in my experience they don't listen to logic and common sense, the big companies, not even if it spares them hassle and saves them a lot of money, they'd rather replace until the user gives up and buys another brand.
I have a Wii and a 360. It's like comparing a screwdriver and a hammer. Both are great at what they do but don't expect one to replace the other. Thought about getting a PS3, but when I found a new Samsung BD-P1500 for $130 to handle Blu-ray that ended any desire for a PS3.
I had a Xbox 360 Pro for about a year and it RROD But Microsoft really has to fix this problem
Wasn't the PS3 failure rate as low as 1% a couple of years ago? Perhaps that was the original models which were built like freaking tanks.
The only reason for ps3's failure rate being so low is cause it has no games there sessions rarely span for more than a couple of hours. If we were talking about cars I'd they are both pretty evenwhen it comes to mileage, however only one of the manufacturers offers an extended warranty.
"...is cause it has no games there sessions rarely span for more than a couple of hours" Laughable fanboy comment. Try MGS4 and InFamous as just 2 examples. Also, while I play my 360 more, my PS3 is always doing folding at home so there goes the logic on it not doing anything for more than a few hours.
Microsoft does take care of the problem. If your system fails, they fix it. I agree it shouldn't fail like that...but obviously this far into the console's life it is apparent there is not much they can do about it. Do you think they would continue to lose billions if it was something that could be fixed? Be happy about it though, it just means they'll make sure the xbox 720 does not have problems like this.
On the other hand, the 360 is probably played five times more than the ps3 as well. You know, given that it has the majority of the good games. More playage = higher chance of failure.
They did redesign the cooling several times, and they how many times Twice? Three times? redesigned the PCB, so yeah they did try, it's just generally known BGA has its issues and the industry didn't quite find the best way to deal yet.
And of course the stats mentioned are for all versions together, and there are a lot of people who will do silly things, like building them in closed cabinets or throwing sweaters on them (also to drown the noise I bet), you know how people are, some text while driving I hear, sigh.
I bought an XBOX 360 the day they were released, with the 20 gig HD.
It's been running strong ever since, no problems at all.
Dude, you are doomed now!
;o)
my first 360 gave me a video card failure (apparently) after over a year, but NO RROD so i couldnt get it repaired. luckily i had some money and the elite was released so i bought one straight out and didnt bother to repair the first. after a year my elite RROD but was fixed free. my brother bought an elite just before, his has since RROD and my friends' has RROD twice i think, though he also bought an elite when they came out too. most other people i know have had RROD on theirs at some point. from what i have found it seems people (including myself) are too into the whole 360 thing to care if it breaks; hell i play 5hrs a day regularly, use media center, stream music. kids i know have not even had it break, just been banned for some reason and IMMEDIATELY go out and buy a new console; its an addiction.
My first 360 went red less than a year after i bought it, gave the warranty-referb thing to my little brother. Bought a new one at shopko with shopko warranty, ( if the console takes a shit within 3 years shopko cuts you a check for a new elite)
This one's been just fine so far...
This article fails to mention pretty much the most crucial element of any poll, was it a self selecting poll? Self selecting polls have no statistical significance AT ALL. None, zero, zilch. Conclusions drawn from self selecting polls have about as much significance as anecdotal evidence. The degree to which self selecting polls are used on the Internet today to back up issues is disturbing, and any site with even the smallest amount of journalistic integrity should at least identify whether or not the poll was self selecting.
Ditto. On a related note, was any consideration taken for Lot numbers? I did a lot of research before "choosing a side" (Xbox vs PS3). If my memory serves me correctly, Lot 735 and later were highly touted by 360 fanboys as "RROD-free". And mine has been just that. I now own both consoles and can tell you that Microsoft finally does something right with this great piece of hardware.
"However, game consoles should be designed to shrug off marathon sessions and just keep on spewing polygons, something that the first revisions of Microsoft's baby obviously couldn't manage."
Why back in my day, before we even HAD polygons, I'd leave my SNES on for days until I could reach a save point. It never gave me a single problem until my brother spilled something on it. Not even N64 or PSX, let alone anything newer, has been so reliable. (Damn N64 cartridge slots get so loose they're as bad as NES after a few years.)
This is the sort of thing that gives anti-xbox nerds something to yap about. They read the title, and dont see the fact that THE POLL IS COMPLETELY VOID because theres no proof of anyone owning any of the consoles. Bad survey, bad results
We get it, your a rabid xbot. What baffles me is your insistence on defending a steaming pile of crap, like MS gives 2 flying craps about you.
I understand the concerns of people who dont want their systems to fail. I have a 360 and mine RRODd. Yet my experience of having it fixed was great. They got it back to me fixed in no time. Yeah, MS pushed the console too early to beat out the PS3. We all know that. But I think they have done a pretty dang good job of making up for their mistake. And honestly? It F$%*ing WORTH IT PEOPLE!