A report by an independent electronics warranty firm SquareTrade recently claimed that Xbox 360 failure rates ran to 16.4pc, according to data gathered from its customer base, but Microsoft stands by its claim that the Xbox, like all other game consoles, has the industry standard failure rate of 3-5pc.
“We’re aware of the reports circulating that speculate on Xbox 360 hardware reliability stats,” Microsoft has publicly stated.
“Anything you see is pure speculation and we do not comment on rumour or speculation.”
While Microsoft did not specify which reports it was referring to, the SquareTrade report was the result of a sample of 1,000 of its customers, a small percentage of Xbox 360 owners in comparison to the approximate 11 million Xbox owners worldwide.
SquareTrade itself did not reveal the methodology used to gather figures for its report but did say that most, if not all, of the failed Xbox consoles had the original motherboard which has since been replaced.
This revelation would suggest the reported failure rate from SquareTrade refers to older models and would not concern new buyers of the Xbox 360.
By Marie Boran
