Do Xbox 360's malfunctions really matter?

Posted Aug 13th 2007 6:15PM by Zac Bissonnette
Filed under: Consumer Experience, Microsoft (MSFT), Marketing and Advertising

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)'s Xbox 360 has been somewhere between Sony (NYSE: SNE)'s Playstation 3 and Nintendo's Wii in terms of commercial success. The Wii has been a breakthrough smash hit, attracting a whole new audience to gaming, while the PS3 has been somewhat of a miserable failure.

In a somewhat obvious piece, The New York Times points out that the system has its diehard fans, especially Halo players. Microsoft can count on their loyalty in the face of numerous machine breakdowns (estimates show that one in three machines needs repair), but it obviously isn't enough: Microsoft's gaming division isn't close to being profitable.

So yeah, it's great the Mr. Softy can count on the acne-infested gaming fanatics. But as Wii has shown, there is a lot more money to be made targeting casual gamers, and Xbox doesn't appear to have any hope of doing that. The Times sums it up:

One question is whether it can help Microsoft sell more consoles to mainstream consumers, or to those who may be concerned about the reliability of the 360 systems.

But there is little doubt the faithful will be there in force, and thrilled about it, having forgiven Microsoft for the flaws in its console.

"I'm on my third 360," said Benjamin Lin, an 18-year-old Halo enthusiast from Seattle, "and it's working great for me."

But the kind of like declaring Donny Osmond's Love Songs of the 70's a hit because the people who've been following him for 30 years like it. In order for Xbox 360 to be a true success, it needs to find a new audience.

Tags: Microsoft, MSFT, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 malfunctions, Xbox 360 performance, Xbox malfunctions, Xbox360, Xbox360Malfunctions, Xbox360Performance, XboxMalfunctions

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

8-13-2007 @ 7:40PM

Xbox sucks said...

Xbox 360 sucks Halo 3 is way overhyped Microsoft just has FPS games PS3 has everything fuck xbox fans.

8-13-2007 @ 7:41PM

Chris said...

Congratulations, Zac, you have written the most biased article of the day.

I'm embarrassed that any human being lacks the mental capacity to see the Playstation 3's successes, and flagrantly disregards those aspects by quoting the Playstation 3 as "a miserable failure". If by that you mean the sales have been somewhat lower than the Xbox 360's and Wii's, you should understand why. If by that quote you are hinting that the Playstation 3 itself is a failure, I'm appalled.

Back to my point of why. The Xbox 360 has apparently "sold" around 10.3 million units. There has been much controversy, especially because that number may also include the units replaced. That's what happens when the Xbox 360 has a failure rate between 30-50%.

10.3 million units sold is a decent standing, I admit. But please, please do not compare the sales of the Xbox 360 to the Playstation 3. First off, the Xbox 360 launched a year earlier, may have innacurate sale numbers, and is cheaper than the Playstation 3.

The Wii has amazing sales, also around 10 million units sold to this date. Why has it been a "smash hit"?

-It costs only $249.99
-Nintendo can produce it for amazingly little money, unlike the Playstation 3, which costs well more than $600 to make. In this case, the Playstation 3 is an amazing bargain, whereas Nintendo is profiting from the larger amount of money you pay in ratio to the production value.
-The Wii appeals to children in a generation where most kids get their way
-Because the Wii is cheaper, has games aimed towards younger gamers, and looks cute, parents are more apt to buying it compared to the PS3 and Xbox 360, which appeal to more serious gamers.

How can you call a system with a failure rate of only 1-2% a failure? How can you call a system with:

The Cell microprocessor

NVIDIA RSX graphics engine

An HDMI output

4 USB ports

Support for 7 Sixaxis controllers

Memory and SD card compatibility

Support for Blu Ray disc (The leading high definition DVD format)

The ability to display resolutions of 1080p since launch

An 80 GB, upgradeable hard drive

Music, videos, photos, games, and demos all in one easily maneuverable cross media bar

How can you call the Playstation 3 a failure when it has incredible exclusives coming out such as:

Afrika, The Agency, Brave Arms, Coded Arms: Assault, Driver 5, Dynasty Warriors 6, Eight Days, The Eye of Judgment, Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Final Fantasy XIII, Folklore, The Getaway 3, God of War III, Gran Turismo 5, Haze, Heavenly Sword, Hot Shots Golf 5, Infamous, Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier, Killzone 2, Lair, LittleBigPlanet, Metal Gear Online, Metal Gear Solid 4, Monster Hunter 3, NBA 08, Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction, Singstar, Socom: Confrontation, Tekken 6, Time Crisis 4, Timesplitters 4, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Unreal Tournament 3, Warhawk, etc.

This is all my opinion, but when you analyze the Playstation 3 with a factual view of the situation, it's an amazing success in the gaming community.

8-14-2007 @ 9:31PM

Great White Snark said...

I think it's quaint when the NY Times makes these analytical ventures into esoteric geek territory. I think there are other factors in play affecting Xbox 360 customer loyalty besides Halo 3...

http://www.greatwhitesnark.com/2007/08/14/five-lessons-from-microsoft-xbox-360-for-keeping-customers-loyal-to-a-broken-product/

And for the record, the PS3 is a sad, sad little platform.