Following in the wake of Game Informer’s armchair survey earlier in the year – which found that 54.2% of American Xbox 360s had broken down – CNET have done a similar study for the British market. With similar results.
https://kotaku.com/report-xbox-360-failure-rate-over-50-percent-30963459
1,128 gamers were polled (note: it was a self-selected survey, not a blind study), with 562 owning an Xbox 360, 473 having a PS3 and 591 a Wii. Obviously, some respondents owned more than one console.
The results found that a crushing 60% of 360s had died, while only 16% of PS3s and 6% of Wiis had suffered the same fate. Even worse was the rate of repeat failre: of those who have reported a busted console, 32% say it’s happened more than once, with 19% saying it’s broken three times or more.
Count me in the latter camp; I’ve had two red-ringed consoles, and recently got back from my honeymoon to find my third 360’s power brick had simply ceased to function, despite the console not being turned on.
Being a self-selected survey, it’s likely the actual numbers across the board would be lower, but still; a little less than awful is still awful.
CNET UK’s games console reliability survey: 60 per cent of Xbox 360s have broken [CNET]
