Industry commentator Dean Takahashi has this week exposed just how troubled the Xbox 360's launch period was, revealing in a new VentureBeat article that the original system suffered from a whopping 68% failure rate in the four months prior to the console's US launch.

Apparently, according to Takahashi, the initial yield of the IBM CPU inside the system was just 16%. Little surprise that the console has suffered from very high failure rates since garnering an official launch, it would seem.

These details come from a number of insider sources, we're told, the writer also claiming that MS execs pushed on with the launch despite the manufacturing problems.

Microsoft eventually had to implement a free replacement program, when 1.2 million consoles were returned as of early 2007.

Apparently, Microsoft's high-paced design process left the console vulnerable to flaws - and such were initial problems that the factory had to be shut down in 2007 while the firm tried to resolve their ongoing issues.

"This new story repeats old information, and contains rumors and innuendo from anonymous sources, attempting to create a new sensational angle, and is highly irresponsible," reads an official response to these claims from Microsoft.

By Luke Guttridge

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  1. anon Unregistered 2 months ago

    I work in the electronics industry and have aquaitences close to Xbox developement, i don't claim to know what the exact figures were but these numbers are way off, like most good stories sensationalism has taken over.
    Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

  2. GamerJack Unregistered 2 months ago

    Yeah it's not Microsoft is it? They have compensated the public for creating a console that has no hardware longevity, and If your not lucky enough to get a full red ring, but get an E74 error, then you only have to pay more cash to get it refurbished and sent back. I mean, that sounds great. They should have just been honest about the state of their hardware from the start. Then people would have said "oh yeah, thats fine, I always buy hardware which fails on me a month after the warranty expires". 360 failure has created jobs all over the world, keeps the economy flowing, all those busy postmen and websites helping annoyed gamers.

  3. Dracor Unregistered 2 months ago

    Lest hope they lernt there lessen on rushing things out