According to an independent report by the warranty company SquareTrade, the Nintendo Wii is the most reliable of the current generation consoles, while the Xbox 360 remains the console with the highest system failure rate.
After two years of ownership, Wii owners reported only a 2.7 percent failure rate, with the PS3 in the middle at 10 percent, and the 360 at 23.7 percent. Excluding RROD errors, which are covered by a Microsoft warranty for 3 years, the Xbox 360 still had an 11.7 percent failure rate.
The sample size for the study was 16,000 units, but there are some notable facts to note. Most of the Wii failures were due to power issues and most of the non-RROD errors for the Xbox 360 was “Disc Read errors,” the same as the PS3. Usage was also a factor, because the Wii, according to Nielsen numbers, is just about half of that of the Xbox 360. The report says the average 360 console is played or used for 1191 minutes per month, followed by the PS3 at 1053 and the Wii lagging way behind at 516.
Perhaps more notably, the report concludes that the new “Jasper” based Xbox 360s, which began shipping in late 2008, have almost completely killed RROD, and SquareTrade expects the failure rate to continue to fall as 2009 continues.
You can read the full PDF here: SquareTrade console reliability PDF
Result for: failure rate
According to a GameInformer article, the Xbox 360 still has a high failure rate, of 54.2 percent, due to the dreaded RROD, e74, and other errors, a number much higher than its current console rivals.
The PlayStation 3 had a 10.6 percent failure rate and the Wii was even lower, at 6.8 percent.
The survey used 5000 readers, but the article does mention a few notes to go along with the numbers. The Xbox 360 is the mot used console of the three, with 40 percent of respondents saying they use it 3-5 hours per day compared to 37 percent for PS3 owners and under 20 percent for Wii users, meaning the numbers may be a bit skewed.
Additionally, those surveyed found Microsoft to have the most “unhelpful customer service,” with consoles taking almost a month to be repaired or replaced, compared to 8 days for a PS3 or a Wii. 56 percent of respondents found Nintendo customer service “very helpful” compared to 51.1 percent for Sony and a measly 37.7 percent for Microsoft.
Despite all those numbers however, only 3.8 percent of 360 owners said they would never buy another 360 console due to the hardware failure or the poor service.
Result for: failure rate
Despite their best efforts to replace Xbox 360 consoles that have failed, including upping the warranty for free, Microsoft is now facing a class action lawsuit out of California over the hardware failures.
The suit claims that an “excessive” number of consoles have failed giving users the dreaded “red ring of death.” The lawsuit also alleges that Microsoft had concealed the failure rate of the console in order to better compete with the pending launch of the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii in 2006.
The lawsuit cites articles published in credible gaming trade journals each of which show that Microsoft knew in November 2005 that over 50 percent of the initial sales launch Xbox 360 consoles were defective.
California is seeking an order that “Microsoft disgorge all profits attributable to its sale of the Xbox 360, as well as that Microsoft publicly announce and implement a refund program in California.”
