Did Microsoft know about Xbox failures?

[se7en]

Has your Xbox 360 ever failed unexpectedly? If it has, you're in good company -- in February, warranty company SquareTrade pegged the console's failure rate at a shocking 16%. But a stunning new expose claims that Microsoft knew over two-thirds of the consoles produced by its contracted factories in the run-up to the Xbox 360's November 2005 launch date were faulty, and opted to push the machine out to consumers in spite of its problems.

The report, published this week in VentureBeat and written by technology journalist Dean Takahashi -- author of the critically acclaimed The Xbox 360 Uncloaked -- blames numerous factors for the now-infamous "Red Ring of Death" failures, including a rushed design process, the machine's groundbreaking complexity, and cost-cutting initiatives that hamstrung quality assurance tests.

As one anonymous source told Takahashi, "There were so many problems, you didn't know what was wrong. The [test engineers] didn't have enough time to get up and running."

Even though Microsoft eventually extended the Xbox 360's warranty program in an effort to reassure consumers, incurring an estimated $1 billion bill in the process, public confidence in the Xbox 360 was harmed immeasurably. Many online reports indicated purchasers had to go through four or more replacement machines before receiving one that worked, and Microsoft amassed a "bone yard" of 500,000 broken consoles in the process, Takahashi claims.

Did Microsoft know about Xbox failures? - Video Game Feature - Yahoo! Video Games

[rawb]

SENSATIONAL JOURNALISM IS AWESOME

Originally Posted by se7en

in February, warranty company SquareTrade pegged the console's failure rate at a shocking 16%.

...IN SEPTEMBER, CONSUMER RAWB PEGGED THE CONSOLE'S FAILURE RATE AT ONE MILLION BILLION PERCENTS

The report, published this week in VentureBeat and written by technology journalist Dean Takahashi -- author of the critically acclaimed The Xbox 360 Uncloaked --

CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED FNK WRITER RAWB CALLS BULLSHIT

As one anonymous source told Takahashi, "There were so many problems, you didn't know what was wrong. The [test engineers] didn't have enough time to get up and running."

ONE ANONYMOUS SOURCE HAS TOLD RAWB, "YOUR DICK IS GIGANTIC AND STURDY, EVERY WOMAN FINDS YOU HANDSOME"

[NinjaBoy]

Originally Posted by se7en

Microsoft amassed a "bone yard" of 500,000 broken consoles in the process, Takahashi claims.

I blame Marty...

[NinjaBoy]

And hasn't microsoft already acknowledged the problem?

[Phrenetic]

no they were too busy trying to get into bed with rockstar

[ppcock]

EA is trying to get into bed with R*

[NinjaBoy]

Who wouldn't want to fuck a rockstar?

[ppcock]

hells yeas.. I want mystery diseases!

[se7en]

interesting read about the xbox. theres more in the link.

In many ways, the Xbox 360 was a big achievement. Microsoft had beaten its rivals Sony and Nintendo to market by a year. Sony had outsold Microsoft five-to-one in the previous generation of consoles, but Microsoft has outsold Sony’s PlayStation 3 with the Xbox 360. Microsoft’s to game executive Bach (left) had repeatedly promised that Microsoft would be profitable in his Entertainment & Devices group in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008. The company met that target. Big losses have turned into profits.

But when the company launched its Xbox 360 video game console in November, 2005, it didn’t have a handle on product quality and it was not prepared to systematically analyze its product returns and debug bad consoles.

Microsoft has admitted those mistakes. On July 5, 2007, the company said it would take a billion-dollar write-off to pay for free replacement of Xbox 360s by up to three years from the date of purchase. Peter Moore, who at the time was head of the games business at Microsoft, said in an interview the decision to take the write-off was due to an “unacceptable number” of returns. The company made improvements to the console’s quality, but Moore said it was unclear how many units would fail in the field. Microsoft then followed up its new policy with numerous public apologies, including a statement from Bach, its game executive.

Microsoft never disclosed its actual return rates. But according to data obtained by VentureBeat, the total number climbed above 1.2 million consoles in early 2007. That is a huge amount, considering Microsoft had only shipped 11.6 million into stores by the time of the announcement in mid-2007.


The company was dragged kicking and screaming to its admission of widespread defects — with gamers and the press doing the dragging. In interviews in April and May of 2007, Microsoft executives denied that quality problems were haunting them. Todd Holmdahl, (pictured left) general manager in charge of the Xbox platform for Microsoft in Redmond, Wash., said in an interview with me on May 9, 2007, while I was at the San Jose Mercury News, that the “vast majority” of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 customers were having a great experience with their consoles. He declined, however, to say what percentage of consoles were being returned for defect reasons. In doing so, he was as coy as any of the console makers are about such sensitive data. But everyone wanted an answer to that question.


Xbox 360 defects: an inside history of Microsoft’s video game console woes VentureBeat

[Krusha]

Out of the blue (or dare i say red), my xbox got the red ring of death about a month ago

Its being shipped to their repair center for servicing.

Thing is , they are servicing the RROD for a full 3 years so in that time there is usually a new console coming out anywhoo

Possibly that's their plan.

[EPID3MIK-7]

Send it in, get the placement, sell it and buy an Elite.