PlayStation 3 failure rate (pre-PS3 'slim' release)

Because we all know that 5,000 is an accurate representation of 24mil. Not to mention it's on the internet so there could be fanboys trying to enhance the figure. And the fact that only the "hardcore" visit sites like this, while most "casuals" actually play the games.

I wonder how much of Xbox sales are from RROD members who bought it again.
In every 100 people, 46 people will have a working console *yet.

With a failure rate like that they've probably made more off people buying boxes for the 2nd, 3rd time or paying for repair. Im no economist but I cant imagine ANY other product with that kinda failure that has the backing they enjoy.

Its Insane

that and a very low IQ.

How can one be so sure? Cost cutting generally leads to higher failure rates, not less.

I think thats what Joeblow meant, but worded it differently.

I'm actually surprised it's that high. 10% is no insignificant amount.

Because of the nature of how the data was collected, you can guess that the actual percentage is lower than this calculation for each console. But the proportions are probably right (Wii:PS3:360 is roughly 1:2:10).


Let's be fair. The reason people stick by their 360's is because they've already made big investments in the platform (peripherals, downloads, friends list, games). That all adds up to a lot more than the cost of a new/repaired console. Of course you're going to buy a new one if it's out of warranty. This isn't about blind devotion. It's about investment.

It wouldn't be a lie though that a good many xbox owners buy it because it is an AMERICAN product, are a bit on the xenophobic side, and want to play manly, action and war oriented games because they were culturally taught to be patriotic and flaunt their masculinity, whereas they wouldn't be caught dead playing something like Flower or a Japanese-centric game like Okami. Being stuck inside the box doesn't necessary mean you have a low IQ, but it always seems that way. And rednecks who game love their xbox, so says some fat guy I know. They keep it the same place they keep their guns at, right next to the TV in the living room.

In regards to the whole Game Informer survey thing. I hope no one is taking it seriously at all because

1. It's a small amount of people surveyed.
2. Most people without problems wouldn't bother sending in the survey, meaning the numbers are very skewed.
3. If the percentages were actually 10%, I think someone would have noticed by now that one in every ten PS3s were failing.

I think it is only useful for comparisons between the consoles, assuming Game Informer is an unbiased magazine and its subscribers are not excessive fanboys of one console. It would be something like for every 1 PS3 that fails, 5 Xbox 360s also die with it.

Oh come on. Really? First, supporting products native to your country isn't xenophobia. Secondly Microsoft is an international company, I'm pretty sure the consoles are made in China. Even the dumbest redneck in your example can read the back of a game console. And I'd love to see your data on the "cutural teachings" of 360 vs PS3 owners.

You bought a Dodge SRT-4 with overpriced exhaust and an intake. It keeps
overheating. You get a replacement car. You want to go somewhere. It still
overheats so you can't use it. Your friends is in the Dodge SRT-4 car club. So
how great is your IQ if you can get a reliable Honda S2000 with a better engine
(Blu-Ray), better gas mileage (Wi-Fi), etc? It IS *blind devotion.

*Stupidity

I agree John. That was a amazingly stupid comment in this stealth troll thread. Seeing how the Xbox 360 has the most popular Japanese games this gen is even more proof that some posters here are living with blinders on.

Buying console after console knowing they are inherently defective is the very definition of cognitive dissonance/blind devotion. Sure there are great games, online, etc, but those take precedence over the fact the console fails consistently, which is cognitive dissonance. It is like getting hit over the head with a tire iron, most with common sense wouldn't need to be hit again, unless they are blind and out of touch with the reality of the situation.

A few years back one person said it is no different than buying PC's every couple of years since they virtually become obsolete. Um, something breaking due to defects and something becoming obsolete due to tech changing is not a realistic comparison, but this is the way some think.

There are a lot of super huge problems with this survey, but not accounting for time is huge. Failure rates have to be measured against a time window. You have to measure at a consistent time like out of the box, after a specific number of hours used, or after a specific time span with regular use. The way this survey worked a machine that worked for 3+ years then broke (you probably got a good amount of value) counts the same as a machine that didn't work out of the box (no value, but still under warranty), or one that break just out of warranty (some value gained but pay for repair). Similarly if 500 usage hours is the critical point and one set of consoles is used heavily for gaming, movies, streaming, medical research and another console is used sparingly when guests are over that will cause unreliable information. Also all things being equal the console that is in release longer would be at a dissadvantage.

Don't underestimate the stupidity of some people. Someone remind me, what's the literacy rate in America again?

There are most definitely people that buy a product for xenophobic and/or racial superiority reasons. Go have a read of the comments on comparision videos, mass fanboidom and stupity there.

Who exactly are the people who are "buying console after console"? The Xbox 360 has a three year warranty. If your console breaks then it's free to replace it. It sucks that it happens but I don't think people are picking the machine up, throwing it away and buying more consoles due to mental illness. This is a comment for everyone not directed only at you.

Plenty of people like myself have purchased another Xbox 360 Jasper unit for the more quiet and drastically cooler operation. This isn't any different that the same guys buying PS3 slim units now for the same reasons.

This thread is shockingly insulting and ignorant. I'm disappointed to see stuff like this on AVS. The PS3 Slim has brought out the absolute worst in PS3 fanboys and I have no idea why. And don't tell me this isn't fanboy stuff because only a fanboy would claim insanity as the reason someone would choose a product other than their own obsession. AVS is better than this, or at least it should be.

I assume you get the irony in complaining about name calling by doing it yourself. Let's say we all end it here.

Who was the administrator that was against the gaming forum? I for one agree.

I don't think people do that now but they apparently will after their 3 year warranty is up

In regards to the 54% defect rate survey


That is pretty perplexing.

I don't find it perplexing. As was already said, it's about the investment you made and the people you play with. When all of your friends are on a console and you have a bunch of games, and your console dies out of warranty, would you sell all of your games and tell your friends you're going to stop playing with them and go to another system?

I don't rebuy any product that breaks on me over and over. I can see maybe riding it out for the consoles life cycle because you own a bunch of games already but not after that. No way would I buy the company's new product when it comes out. If I bought a car that I constantly had to repair I certainly wouldn't buy a new model later on because I enjoyed the car when it ran without problems.

"Racial superiority reasons"??? WTF are you talking about? How does anyone know the race of the person who assembled the product they're buying? Man this thread just got too ridiculous even for me.

I believe you are taking personally something I was trying to relate to some people, not all who own the 360. I was relating something that I have experienced to be true, because several friends own a 360 and when it failed they went right out and bought another. I also had a 360 for a while on loan from my friend and I would frequent the 360 forums and read the stories. The 360 failing and the hassle of it was secondary to them owning one and how much enjoyment they got out of it. I guess you could also call it ignorance is bliss, and that doesn't have to be taken as an insult, but as I said their enjoyment of the 360 overrode the failures of it.

Mental illness? Rather cognitive dissonance is a social phenomenon that virtually all of us engage in from time to time. I think marketing with some strong psychological manipulation, better known as brainwashing is what it really is. And who said anything about insanity. Psychotic maybe, but that doesn't make me or anyone else who practices cognitive dissonance insane. We can all suffer from psychosis from time to time, but that doesn't mean we are insane. Your defensive response plays into the very point I am trying to make.

One of the best examples is in the 80's and 90's when many Americans were still claiming Japanese cars weren't better than American cars, when it was proven beyond a reasonable doubt they were better. No matter how often or sooner the American cars failed or had problems compared to Japanese cars, those lemon loving folks, blinded by cognitive dissonance, would swear American cars were as good if not better. They had to be. They were made in the USA. Meanwhile, Japanese cars were and are being made here and many American cars were and are being made in Mexico and Canada and the parts in both are from many different countries.

IF that Jasper 360 was known to fail often even if it was covered under warranty would you still have bought it?

I probably would have. I had my 60g PS3 fail after a year and although it was covered under warranty, I thought it was such a good machine for what it can do, I bought an 80g. Now at the time I had no idea of how dependable or not the PS3 was, but I really didn't care as dependability at that point was secondary to the coolness and wow factor.

I'd just like to point out that 5,000 respondents is large enough of a sample size for a study like this.

The other issues someone else brought up - judging the failure rate vs. a time frame, seems to be a valid concern, but not the sample size. I'm too lazy to do the math, but the standard deviation is pretty small on a sample that big.

Hughmc, I appreciate the reply. I don't personally know people who would spend hundreds of dollars when they didn't need to. I am sure they are out there but I very much doubt it's even close to common. That sounds like they have more issues than brand loyalty.

I think your position is valid as long as it extends both ways. Your opinion that one console is superior is of course just opinion. If your example is that for some people felt "The 360 failing and the hassle of it was secondary to them owning one and how much enjoyment they got out of it." That's just common sense. Nothing is perfect in the world, especially technology. It will always come down to pros outweighing cons when you choose to adopt a product or not. I can easily say that the PS3's problems with bad ports, resolution limitations, lacking online features and etc are secondary in my opinion to the fact that it has a low fail rate. That would be a valid personal call.

The attitude that I felt coming across was that of judgment on Xbox fans as stupid twits knowing no better than to own the hardware and being ignorantly defensive of it for no reason. I'd prefer we speak of console owners on both sides with some respect.

Xenophobia is here to stay. So is racism, and ethnocentrism. The less of it the better, but you can't completely eradicate something that is so natural for so many people, as well as culturally taught and accepted. And I never said it was all-inclusive of Xbox users, just a large percentage. There are plenty of people, real life and on the web, who scream about how Japan makes too many girly games and hate JRPGs because there's no action, your not killing something, there's no blood, its too cutesy and gay, the male is another blonde emo shemale, or various other reasons. Those are all valid, and RPG fans are known to make similar complaints, but the general hostility by this xenophobic western gaming subgroup is more than just a little irrational.

As for the Xbox having the best Japanese games, as someone claimed. I really don't know of any. There's a decent list of JRPG flops or disappointments, however, none of which sold spectacularly. Infinite Undiscovery, Last Remnant, Star Ocean 4, etc. Some so called exclusives, like Legend of Vesperia, are heading to the PS3 to make ends meet. Other non-JRPG games are multi-platform like Resident Evil 5. Also, if you ever followed Kotaku and there periodic Japanese console sale figures, The Xbox isn't just last, it is dead last. Maybe the Japanese are also xenophobic about an American product, or American games, but I don't know any personally so I'm not going to make that assumption. Many Xbox owner's I know of, in the States, in Texas, which is where I live, follow the mold I so described, which is why I am making this claim.

Perhaps this is a large issue in Texas, but in most gaming communities online it's not there. Nor is it an issue here in Atlanta: the Tekken champion capital of the US. Not liking JRPG games has nothing to do with not liking Japan. I don't like JRPG games much anymore myself but that's more from being burned out on them last gen and the strides made by Euro and American developers in the RPG field. Seeing how the Wii and the DS are the best selling gaming devices in the world right now, I think most of us are OK with Japan. This Xenophobic nonsense is propaganda.


I said the Xbox has some of the best Japanese games. You are right, the Xbox 360 does have a lot of exclusive JRPG games and they do review mediocre like almost all JRPGs do these days. My meaning was that almost all of the big Japanese series are now on X360 as well. DMC, Resident Evil, Tekken, Virtua Fighter, Final Fantasy, and more. It's also getting a lot of love from the Japanese vertical shooter category in both disc and XBLA releases. JVerts are one of the most hardcore game types there is. Not only that, after the last update Japanese Indy Developers have their games on the US XBLA Marketplace. Beyond that the Xbox Live Video Marketplace has a whole section dedicated to Anime and they just premiered the HD version of Koroshiya, AKA "Ichi the Killer", the legendary cult Japanese hit.

The short of it is: The Xbox 360 is literally part of the heart and soul of all Japanese media available here in the US. If you like Japanese entertainment in the slightest, you owe it to yourself to get an Xbox 360.

And you are right, the Japanese do not adopt American games or devices very often. (Apple is an exception, as is Windows) This isn't from xenophobia but more from a unified form of nationalism. They like their own types of games and animation and at the moment, the rest of the world isn't super keen on sharing them. The Japanese have been watching and playing the same type of stuff since the 70's. They are not like America with radical taste shifts every few years. The Japanese are a fascinating and unique people. You'd probably enjoy learning about their culture. Start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_nationalism

This imaginary divide does not exist. People complain the Xbox has a lot of first person shooters. Of course it does! They are the most popular game type in America and Europe right now. Sony breaks their ass making and marketing the exact same types of games: Killzone 2, Resistance, R2, Socom, Warhawk, MAG, etc etc. Both machines are offering the same things to the same demographic.

The only xenophobia I see here is a few of you looking to judge people by the machine they play on and make massive gross assumptions for whatever purpose suits you.